US stocks had a solid session on Monday as bank shares rose, while concerns over a trade war between the US and China were shrugged off for the moment. Back home our market looks set to open higher today bolstered by gains in the US.
On Wall Street Bank stocks rose at least 2.5 percent, led by Bank of America, Citigroup and, Goldman Sachs. Twitter shares went the other way falling over 5 per cent on reports that it suspended more than 70 million fake accounts in May and June, which could be negative for user growth.
Gold rose yesterday, touching its highest price in two weeks. Oil prices were also pushed higher by increased global demand and U.S. efforts to shut out Iranian output using sanctions. Base metals advanced in London, extending gains from Asia, with aluminium up 2 per cent and copper up 1.7 per cent. The spot price of iron ore also edged higher. US listed stocks of BHP and RIO both added over 2 per cent amid a broader rally.
In political news, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson resigned on Monday adding to divisions over Brexit that are threatening to tear apart the government. The pound fell in the wake of the resignation but recovered some of its losses throughout the session.
Local economic news today the NAB Business survey is released. Overall Aussie businesses are largely in good health with business conditions near record highs. So we can expect some positive results there.
MarketsWall Street closed higher yesterday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.3 per cent to close at 24,777, the S&P 500 closed 0.9 per cent higher to close at 2,784 and the NASDAQ also gained 0.9 per cent to close at 7756.
European markets closed higher yesterday: London’s FTSE gained 0.9 per cent, Paris added 0.4 per cent and Frankfurt was up 0.4 per cent.
Asian markets closed higher yesterday, Tokyo’s Nikkei added 1.2%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.3 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite was up 2.5 per cent.
On the futures markets, the ASX futures are pointing to a 27 pts gain. Yesterday, the Australian share market closed higher with the S&P/ASX 200 Index adding 14 points to close at 6286.
Company newsamaysim Australia
(ASX:AYS) has confirmed that that the ACCC has commenced proceedings against an amaysim subsidiary, amaysim Energy. The proceedings relate to statements about discounts and savings of its energy products that it considered to have contravened the false or misleading conduct provisions of Australian consumer law. The company says it rejects the claims made by the ACCC and believes it acted lawfully, ethically and in accordance with industry practice. Shares in amaysim
(ASX:AYS) closed 1.92 per cent lower to $1.02 yesterday.
Ex-dividendsCollins Foods
(ASX:CKF) is paying 9c fully franked
Metcash
(ASX:MTS) is paying 7c fully franked
Currencies One Australian Dollar at 7:40AM was buying US74.64 cents, 56.33 Pence Sterling, 82.73 Yen and 63.54 Euro cents.
Commodities Iron ore futures are pointing to 1.09 per cent gain.
Gold has gained $2.50 to $US1258 an ounce.
Silver has added 8c to $US16.14 an ounce.
Oil was up 21c to $US74.01 a barrel.
CryptocurrenciesThe three most traded cryptocurrencies are trading lower: Bitcoin has lost 0.2 per cent to US$6,788, Ethereum has lost 2.2 per cent to US$481 and EOS has dropped 6.3 per cent to US$8.22.
