Australian shares are set to open lower this morning – despite a rebound on Wall Street in the wake of the May Federal Reserve’s meeting minutes. All three major US benchmarks ended higher, recovering from earlier losses, after minutes from the Fed May policy meeting showed the central bank was in no hurry to accelerate the pace of rate hikes even as the economy continues to improve. Yields on 10-year Treasuries slipped below 3 per cent.
Oil dropped after an unexpected build in US crude and gasoline inventories. Traders also weighed the possibilities of shortfalls in supply from Iran and Venezuela bringing an increase in OPEC crude output. Iron ore futures are pointing to a slight gain.
Figures from around the globe Wall Street closed higher yesterday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.2 per cent to close at 24,887, the S&P 500 gained 0.3 per cent to close at 2,733 and the NASDAQ gained 0.6 per cent to close at 7426.
European markets closed lower yesterday: London’s FTSE lost 1.1 per cent, Paris fell 1.3 per cent and Frankfurt dropped 1.5 per cent.
Asian markets closed lower yesterday: Tokyo’s Nikkei closed 1.2 per cent lower, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 1.8 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite lost 1.4 per cent.
Taking all of this into equation, the ASX futures are pointing to a 12pts drop. Yesterday, the Australian share market closed lower with the S&P/ASX 200 Index losing 9 points or 0.2 per cent to close at 6033.
Company news Management at copper mining company Avanco
(ASX:AVB) are monitoring a nation-wide truck driver strike in Brazil that may adversely affect the supply of consumables for mining and processing at Antas. This may delay the transport of copper concentrate to the port. There are reports of road blockages involving trucks servicing Antas, including those supplying diesel fuel. Mining and processing operations are currently unaffected, however these may be scaled back in coming days to preserve fuel stocks on site. The Government in Brazil has recently announced a tax reduction over diesel, to help resolve the situation.
Shares in Avance Resources
(ASX:AVB) closed 2.9 per cent higher to 17.5c yesterday.
Ex-DividendsMantra Group
(ASX:MTR) is paying 16c fully franked
Pendal Group
(ASX:PDL) is paying 22c, 15 per cent franked
Tilt Renewables
(ASX:TLT) is paying 1.8c unfranked
Currencies One Australian Dollar at 7:45AM was buying US75.64 cents, 56.67 Pence Sterling, 83.18 Yen and 64.64 Euro cents.
Commodities Iron ore futures are pointing to a 0.6 per cent gain.
Gold has gained 80c to $US1298 an ounce.
Silver has lost 11c to $US16.47 an ounce.
Oil has dropped 37c to $US71.83 a barrel.
CryptocurrenciesThe three most traded cryptocurrencies are trading lower: Bitcoin has fallen 6.6 per cent to US$7612, Ethereum has lost 9.8 per cent to US$595 and EOS has dropped 13 per cent US$11.
