Following weak leads from Wall Street, the Australian share market looks set to open in negative territory. US shares closed little changed on Friday as strong earnings results helped to offset trade war concerns. Shares in Microsoft rose 1.8 per cent on the back of better than-expected results. Honeywell shares also increased 3.8 per cent after beating earnings and revenue expectations. The strong results came after President Trump said he is ready to put tariffs on every Chinese good coming into the US if necessary. Back home shares look set to fall on the back of the President’s latest comments. Commsec economist Craig James said a firming Australian dollar would also deter foreign investors put their money in the local share market.
On the commodities front, global oil prices rose on Friday as the US dollar fell and the gold futures price increased by around 0.6 per cent. The futures for iron ore are suggesting a 0.31 per cent gain.
Local economic newsThe focus will be on consumer and business inflation. On Wednesday the ABS releases the June-Quarter consumer price index, while on Thursday trade prices are released for the June quarter as well as detailed job data from the ABS.
MarketsWall Street closed loweron Friday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.03 per cent to close at 25,058 the S&P 500 lost 0.09 per cent to close at 2,802 and the NASDAQ lost 0.07 per cent to close at 7,820.
European markets closed lower: London’s FTSE dropped 0.1 per cent, Paris lost 0.4 per cent and Frankfurt 1 per cent.
Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei lost 0.3 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.8 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite was up 2.1 per cent.
The SPI futures are pointing to a 18 points fall. on Friday the Australian share market closed 23 point higher with the S&P/ASX 200 Index closing at 6286.
Company newsIn company news that broke after the market closed on Friday, wastewater solutions company, Fluence
(ASX:FLC) has announced the appointment of Paul Donnelly as Non-Executive director. His appointment fills a recent vacancy left by the recent retirement of Robert Wale. Mr Donnelly is an Executive Director of Macquarie Group and has international experience across all aspects of capital markets. Shares in Fluence
(ASX:FLC) closed flat at $ 39.5 cents on Friday.
Ex-dividendsJust one company going ex-dividend today: Katana Capital
(ASX:KAT) is paying 1 cent fully franked.
CurrenciesOne Australian Dollar at 7:30AM was buying 74.23 US cents, 56.59 Pence Sterling, 82.71 Yen and 63.33 Euro cents.
Commodities Iron ore futures are pointing to a 0.31 per cent gain
Gold has gained $7.10 to $US1231 an ounce.
Silver has gained 15 cents to $15.55 an ounce.
Oil has gained 2 cents to $68.26 a barrel.
CryptocurrenciesBitcoin has gained 1 per cent to US$7498 Ethereum fallen about 0.4 per cent to US$465, and bitcoin cash has gained about 1.7 per cent to $808
