Strong eco news, Dow up, Nasdaq soft: Aus shares to open higher

Market Reports

by Jessica Amir

The Australian share market is eyeing a lift at the open, despite a mixed session on Wall Street. We saw the tech heavy Nasdaq post its worst one-day loss since (a month ago (June 27)), after Facebook suffered its worst day in history, losing 19 per cent. It came after a key metric for the social media giant, global daily active users, disappointed investors, while its quarterly revenue missed expectations as well.

The Dow Jones did rise over 100 points though, on shares in 3M, Boeing and Travelers Companies pushing higher.

On the commodities front, oil has gained momentum, gold edged lower on US-EU trade concerns sliding, while iron ore futures are suggesting a 2.73 per cent gain.

US economic news

US Durable Goods orders rose more than expected in June on business spending on equipment. A closely watched proxy for business spending plans, orders for non-defence capital goods (excluding aircraft), rose 0.6 per cent in June. While overall durable goods orders, which includes items ranging from toasters to aircraft (and meant to last three years or more), rose 1 per cent in June.

Markets

Taking all of this into equation, the ASX futures are pointing to a 26 point lift. Yesterday the S&P/ASX 200 index (ASX:XJO) closed 0.05 per cent lower or 3 points down at 6,245. 

Local economic news 

We can expect a measure that provides a guide on inflation in the business sector, the Producer Price Index, for the June quarter. The last reading was up 1.7 per cent over the year, and some economists are expecting a dip of 0.7 per cent year-on-year to the June quarter. According to the ABS, ‘the past several quarters have shown significant input price pressures evident across a number of industries’.

Markets

Wall Street closed mixed on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.4 per cent to close at 25,527, the S&P 500 closed 0.3 per cent lower to close at 2,837 and the Nasdaq closed down 1.01 per cent to close at 7852.

European markets closed higher yesterday: London’s FTSE added 0.1 per cent, Paris was up 1 per cent and Frankfurt gained 1.8 per cent.

Asian markets closed lower, Tokyo’s Nikkei closed 0.1 per cent lower, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.5 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite was down 0.7 per cent.

Company news

Mid-tier gold mining company OceanaGold Corporation (ASX:OGC) advised its net profit after tax rose over 45 per cent in the half year ending 30 June 2018, hitting US$89.1 million. As for its revenue, that rose 21 per cent in the six months to US$402.4 million. The stronger results came on the back of higher gold ounces being sold and an increase in the average price for gold and copper. Plus Halie Gold mine kicked off commercial production in October 2017, which also bolstered the result. Shares in Oceanagold Corporation (ASX:OGC) closed flat at $3.91 yesterday.

Currencies

One Australian Dollar at 7:40AM was buying 73.79 cents, 56.32 Pence Sterling, 82.09 Yen and 63.41 Euro cents.

Commodities

Gold lost $9.40 to $US1,232 an ounce.
Silver shed 19 cents to $US15.40 an ounce.
Oil added up 24 cents to $US69.54 a barrel.

Cryptocurrencies

Some of the most traded cryptocurrencies are trading lower Bitcoin has dropped 1.1 per cent to US$8,127, Ethereum has lost 1.4 per cent to US$469 and EOS was down 2.02 per cent to US$8.43.

 

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