Following mixed leads from US markets Australian shares look set to rise at the open. The S&P 500 started the week higher, with financials leading the gainers. Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase shares were both up around 2 per cent. Google parent company, Alphabet’s shares rose more than 5 per cent in after-hours trade following the tech giant’s stellar earnings and revenue results. Amazon went the other way dragging down consumer discretionary stocks after President Trump renewed his attack the company’s CEO Jeff Bezos. Treasury yields pushed higher on expectations the US Federal Reserve will continue to lift interest rates, with Yields on 10-year US Treasurys jumping to 2.963.
On the commodities front, global oil prices fell as the focus turned to oversupply concerns and away from tensions between Iran and the US. The gold price edged lower after three days of gains. Iron Ore rose by around 0.6 per cent.
MarketsWall Street closed up/lower/mixed yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.1 per cent to close at 25044, the S&P 500 added 0.2 per cent to close at 2807 and the NASDAQ gained 0.3 per cent to close at 7842.
European markets closed lower: London’s FTSE dropped 0.3 per cent, Paris lost 0.4 per cent and Frankfurt was down 0.1 per cent.
Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei lost 1.3 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.1 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite rose 1.1 per cent.
Taking all of this into equation, the ASX futures are pointing to a 17 points gain. Yesterday the Australian share market closed 58 pts lower with the S&P/ASX 200 Index closing at 6228.
Company newsKing River Copper
(ASX:KRC) has announced a milestone in its production of high purity vanadium with positive results in recent test work. The results are a step towards the company’s plan to become an important player in the manufacture of vanadium and titanium products. Future testwork will aim to improve on the excellent result. King River Copper’s Vanadium Project is based on the largest vanadium-in-magnetite deposit in Australia with the highest vanadium grade in the magnetite-ilmenite concentrate. Shares in King River Copper
(ASX:KRC) closed 2.1per cent higher at 9.5 cents yesterday.
Ex-dividendsViva Energy REIT (ASX: VVR) is going ex-dividend today its paying 6.99 cents unfranked
CurrenciesOne Australian Dollar at 7:30AM was buying 73.83 US cents, 56.36 Pence Sterling, 82.17 Yen and 63.17 Euro cents.
Commodities Iron ore futures pointing to a rise of 0.31 per cent
Gold has lost $7.20 to $US1233 an ounce.
Silver has lost 16 cents to $US15.38 an ounce.
Oil has lost46 cents to $67.80 a barrel.
CryptocurrenciesBitcoin has gained 3.6 per cent to US$7733, Ethereum fallen about 2.3 per cent to US$452, and eos has dropped about 0.6 per cent to $7.96.
