US stocks closed lower: Aus shares poised to drop

Market Reports

by Rachael Jones

In the US stocks rebounded slightly yesterday after early declines sparked by the cancellation of the US-North Korea summit as investors assessed the impact on trade relations, then closed lower. Australian shares are now poised to drop at the open amid the renewed tensions between the US and China due to this cancellation. The Dow tumbled more than 250 points at one point before paring most of those losses by the close. Gold posted its biggest gain in a month and Treasuries rose. There was a slide in the price of oil. The Australian dollar edged a tiny bit higher.

Figures from around the globe

Wall Street closed lower yesterday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.3 per cent to close at 24,812, the S&P 500 fell 0.2 per cent to close at 2,728 and the NASDAQ lost 0.02 per cent to close at 7424.

European markets closed lower yesterday: London’s FTSE lost 0.9 per cent, Paris fell 0.3 per cent and Frankfurt dropped 0.9 per cent.

Asian markets closed mixed yesterday: Tokyo’s Nikkei closed 1.1 per cent lower, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.3 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite lost 0.5 per cent.

Taking all of this into equation, the ASX futures are pointing to a 30pts drop. Yesterday, the Australian share market closed slightly higher with the S&P/ASX 200 Index gaining 5 points to close at 6037.

Company news 

Westfield Corporation (ASX:WFD) shareholders have voted in favour of a $33 billion takeover by Paris property giant Unibail-Rodamco. The deal was announced in December and marks the retirement of Sir Frank Lowy as Westfield chairman. It was overwhelmingly supported by Unibail shareholders at a meeting last week, and backed by the Lowy family and Westfield directors. Subject to final court approval of the proposed acquisition scheme of arrangement, Unibail-Rodamco (AMS:UL) will acquire all the securities of Westfield Corp (ASX: WFD) for US$2.67 cash. Westfield will also simultaneously demerge OneMarket Limited (ASX:OMN) on the basis of one OneMarket share for every 20 Westfield securities held. S&P Dow Jones Indices will replace Westfield Corporation in the S&P/ASX 200 with Unibail-RodamcoWestfield CDIs.

Shares in Westfield Corporation (ASX:WFD) closed 0.68 per cent lower to $8.79 yesterday.

Ex-Dividends 

One company is going ex dividend today.
Opus Group (ASX:OPG) is paying 1c fully franked

Currencies

One Australian Dollar at 7:40AM was buying US75.78 cents, 56.64 Pence Sterling, 82.77 Yen and 64.66 Euro cents.

Commodities

Iron ore futures are pointing to a 1 per cent gain.
Gold has gained $15 to $US1310 an ounce.
Silver has added 28c to $US16.68 an ounce.
Oil has dropped $1.17c to $US70.67 a barrel.

Cryptocurrencies

The three most traded cryptocurrencies are trading mixed:
Bitcoin has fallen 0.7 per cent to US$7570,
Ethereum has lost 0.3 per cent to US$591 and EOS has added 11 per cent to US$12.29.


 

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