As we look to start the September quarter, Australian shares are poised to open on a positive note. Wall Street rallied as all three benchmarks ended higher - the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq all posted gains. Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan were among the Dow's three biggest losers after both banks failed to get approval from the Federal Reserve to increase capital distributions. The United States trade dispute with China saw European shares take a knock in June with the index down 0.8 per cent this month. Although there was a gain in the second quarter, the European banking sector was one of the worst performers of 2018 with a decline of more that 12 per cent since the beginning of the year.
Gold and oil rallied. Iron ore futures are pointing to a small loss.
Local economic newsA mix of manufacturing, housing and inflation data today, ANZ will release their job ads for May, building approvals and a policy meeting at the RBA tomorrow, and retail sales and trade data released on Wednesday.
Markets Wall Street closed higher on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.2 per cent to close at 24,271, the S&P 500 gained 0.1 per cent to close at 2,718 and the NASDAQ was up 0.1 per cent to close at 7510.
European markets closed higher on Friday: London’s FTSE added 0.3 per cent, Paris gained 0.9 per cent and Frankfurt increased 1.1 per cent.
Asian markets closed higher on Friday, Tokyo’s Nikkei closed 0.2% higher, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.6% and China’s Shanghai Composite was up 2.2%.
On the futures markets, the ASX futures are pointing to a 23 pts gain. On Friday, the Australian share market closed lower with the S&P/ASX 200 Index losing 21 points to close at 6195.
Company news Junior explorer Vital Metals
(ASX:VML) has agreed with Tungsten Mining to extend the date for the sale of its Queensland tungsten project by approximately two weeks. Vital has already agreed to sell its development-ready Watershed project in north queensland to Tungsten for $15 million. Vital and Tungsten Mining are continuing to work together to satisfy all conditions under the Agreement as soon as possible. All other terms and conditions of the Agreement continue to be of full force and effect and must be met by approximately the 13 July 2018. Shares in Vital Metals
(ASX:VML) closed flat at $0.01 on Friday.
Ex Dividends:Two companies are going ex dividends today:
Namoi Cotton
(ASX:NAM) is paying 1.9c 19.47% franked
Turners Automotive
(ASX:TRA) is paying 3.89c unfranked
Currencies One Australian Dollar at 7:40AM was buying US74.05 cents, 56.15 Pence Sterling, 82.01 Yen and 63.49 Euro cents.
Commodities Iron ore futures are pointing to 0.8 per cent loss.
Gold has gained $3.50 to $US1255 an ounce.
Silver has added 16c to $US16.20 an ounce.
Oil gained 70c to $US74.15 a barrel.
CryptocurrenciesThe three most traded cryptocurrencies are trading mixed:
Bitcoin has added 0.4 per cent to US$6,379,
Ethereum has added 1.3 per cent to US$453,
EOS has lost 0.03 per cent to US$8.13.
