Australian shares are set to open flat today. US share markets closed largely unchanged following a volatile trading session. The three major benchmarks recovered from earlier falls after President Trump announced the US would quit the Iran nuclear deal. The Finanicals sector was one of four that closed higher on Tuesday, climbing 0.7 percent. Industrials also rose, as shares of defense companies jumped.
Global oil prices eased from 3 and a half year highs on Tuesday but recovered from the lows in the session. Oil prices did slump as much as 4 per cent at one stage during trade due to uncertainty surrounding Trumps decision.
Local economic newsThe Federal Government handed down the budget last night proposing $140 billion in income tax cuts over the next decade. The government announced a deficit of $14.5 billion but said it is on track to deliver a surplus of $2.2 billion in two years . The top tax threshold will increase from 87-90 thousand, meaning 94 per cent of Australians will pay no more than 32.5 cents in the dollar. $25 billion has been earmarked for new infrastructure spending. While, $1.6 billion has been allocated to the aged care sector.
To the figures from around the globe: Wall Street closed flat yesterday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.01 per cent to close at 24,360, the S&P 500 closed 0.03 per cent lower at 2,672 and the NASDAQ added 0.02 per cent to close at 7267.
European markets closed lower yesterday: London’s FTSE closed 0.02 per cent lower, Paris lost 0.2 per cent and Frankfurt fell 0.3 per cent.
Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei closed 0.2% higher, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.4 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.8 per cent.
Taking all of this into equation, the ASX futures are pointing to a 5 pts gain. Yesterday, the Australian share market closed slightly higher with the S&P/ASX 200 Index closing 7 points higher to 6092.
Ex-dividendsTwo companies are going ex-dividend today:
Kelly Partners Group
(ASX:KPG) 1 cents fully franked while ResMed Inc
(ASX:RMD) is paying 3.25 cents unfranked.
Currencies One Australian Dollar at 7:40AM was buying US74.54 cents, 55.04 Pence Sterling, 81.29 Yen and 62.84 Euro cents.
Commodities Iron ore futures are pointing to a 0.7 per cent drop.
Gold has gained $0.90 to $US1315 an ounce.
Silver was flat at $US16.50 an ounce.
Oil has lost $0.69 to $US70.04 a barrel.
CryptocurrenciesThe three most traded cryptocurrencies are trading lower: Bitcoin has lost 2.2 per cent to US$9208, Ethereum fell 1.4 per cent to US$745 and EOS ha fallen 0.1 per cent to US$18.12.
