Tech climbs on Wall St: Aus shares poised to lift

Market Reports

by Rachael Jones

Australian shares are poised to lift, as NASDAQ powered higher on a tech rally. Comcast Corp. and Walt Disney were some of the biggest gainers as they bid for 21st Century Fox Incs entertainment assets. Facebook, Amazon and other tech giants climbed sending the NASDAQ to a record high. The Dow ending slightly lower, dragged down by GE, JPMorgan and Caterpilla. Meanwhile, US retail sales rose more than expected in May to post its biggest advance since November 2017. The euro plunged and the US dollar advanced. Meanwhile Ether and other Cryptocurrencies surged when a US regulator said transactions involving Ether are not subject to the federal securities rules, ending months of speculation. Gold and Oil added but iron ore futures are pointing to a loss. the Aussie dollar dropped.

Figures from around the globe:

Wall Street closed mixed yesterday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the session 0.1 per cent lower to close at 25,175, the S&P 500 added 0.3 per cent to close at 2,782 and the NASDAQ gained 0.9 per cent to close at 7761.

European markets closed higher yesterday: London’s FTSE gained 0.8 per cent, Paris added 1.4 per cent and Frankfurt rose 1.7 per cent.

Asian markets closed lower yesterday: Tokyo’s Nikkei lost almost 1 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.9 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite was down 0.2 per cent.

On the futures markets, the ASX futures are pointing to a 34pts gain. Yesterday, the Australian share market closed lower with the S&P/ASX 200 Index losing 7 points to close at 6017.

Company news

Avanco (ASX:AVB) shareholders are being urged to accept the off market take over offer from Oz minerals (ASX:OZL). Through its wholly owned subsidiary OZ Minerals (Brazil) Holdings Pty Ltd) for Avanco Resources Limited have reached 80.9 per cent. All of the copper ores company major shareholders - Appian, Blackrock, Greenstone Resources and Glencore - have accepted in relation to their Avanco shares. Shareholders will be paid the Offer consideration of 9c cash and 0.009 OZ Minerals shares for each Avanco share within seven days of acceptance. As acceptances have exceeded 80 per cent, capital gains rollover relief will be available on the scrip consideration for certain shareholders. The Offer period is extended to 7.00pm on 6 July next month. OZ Minerals has assumed control of the Avanco Board and will place secondees into key management roles at Avanco.

Shares in Avanco Resources (ASX:AVB) closed 2.78 per cent lower to 17.5c yesterday.

Ex-dividends

One company is going ex-dividend today.
Gentrack Group (ASX:GTK) is paying 4.6c 8.89 per cent franked.

Currencies

One Australian Dollar at 7:40AM was buying US74.73 cents, 56.34 Pence Sterling, 82.69 Yen and 64.58 Euro cents.

Commodities

Iron ore futures are pointing to a 0.2 per cent loss.
Gold has gained $4.60 to $US1304 an ounce.
Silver has added 20c to $US17.19 an ounce.
Oil was up 30c to $US66.82 a barrel.

Cryptocurrencies

The three most traded cryptocurrencies are trading higher:
Bitcoin has added 5.9 per cent to US$6,692,
Ethereum has gained over 10 per cent to US$518.96,
EOS has risen over 13 per cent to US$11.41.

 

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