Wall Street mostly higher: Aus shares to lift, mkt awaits CPI figures

Market Reports

by Anna Napoli

Following mixed leads from US markets the Australian share market looks set to open higher. Wall Street closed mostly in the green on Tuesday, after better-than-expected earnings reports for companies including Alphabet, Eli Lilly, Biogen and United Technologies boosted investors' sentiment. Shares in agriculture focused companies were bolstered by reports the Trump administration plans to offer US$12 billion in financial help to farmers hurt by his protectionist trade policy. US government debt yields held steady ahead of a report on gross domestic product due on Friday.

On the commodities front, oil prices rose as the market shifted its focus to the possibility of increased Chinese demand, gold prices were steady, and iron ore rose by around 0.2 per cent.

In local economic news, the consumer price index for the June quarter is due for release today. Economists are expecting inflation figures to be up by around 2.2 per cent over the year, and about 0.4 per cent for the quarter.

Markets

Wall Street closed mostly higher yesterday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.8 per cent to close at 25,242, the S&P 500 closed 0.5 per cent higher to close at 2,820 and the NASDAQ closed almost flat (down 0.01 per cent) to close at 7841.

European markets closed higher yesterday: London’s FTSE added 0.7 per cent, Paris was up over 1 per cent and Frankfurt gained 1.1 per cent.

Asian markets closed higher, Tokyo’s Nikkei closed up 0.5%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 1.4% and China’s Shanghai Composite was up 1.6%.

Back home, the SPI futures are pointing to a 16pts gain. Yesterday, the Australian share market closed higher with the S&P/ASX 200 Index adding 38 points to close at 6266.

Company news

Danakali (ASX:DNK) has announced the company’s admission to the London Stock Exchange. After listing on the 18th of July, the mining company’s shares were admitted to the official list yesterday under the ticker DNK. Executive Chairman Seamus Cornelius says the listing should increase company profile, liquidity and breadth of potential investors. Shares in Danakali (ASX:DNK) closed flat at 82c yesterday.

Currencies

One Australian Dollar at 7:40AM was buying US74.22 cents, 56.47 Pence Sterling, 82.52 Yen and 63.54 Euro cents.

Commodities

Iron ore futures are pointing to 0.7% gain.
Gold lost 60c to $US1234 an ounce.
Silver was up 5c at $US15.48 an ounce.
Oil was up 87c to $US68.76 a barrel.

Cryptocurrencies

The three most traded cryptocurrencies are trading mixed: Bitcoin has added 6.2 per cent to US$8218, Ethereum has gained 4.5 per cent to US$473 and EOS has improved 6.1 per cent to US$8.45.

 

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