Australian shares are set to open the week flat. Stocks held firm during the political uncertainty of last week. The aussie dollar rose more than 1 per cent on Friday. New Prime Minister Scott Morrison has pledged to bring stability to the government and bring down electricity prices. US stocks rose with the S&P 500 Index heading past its January record. Equities had a second straight week of gains and the US dollar slumped. On the commodities front, oil, silver and gold saw gains. The iron ore futures are suggesting a 0.2 per cent gain. And Reporting season draws to a close this week.
Economic news Tuesday: The first results of the National Health Survey for 2014-15
Thursday: Figures for Private new capital expenditure and expected expenditure for June.
Also building approval figures.
Friday: Regional population growth from the Australian Bureau of Statistics for 2016 and 2017.
MarketsWall Street closed higher on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.5 per cent to close at 25,790, the S&P 500 gained 0.6 per cent to close at 2,875 and the NASDAQ closed 0.9 per cent higher to 7946.
European markets closed higher on Friday: London’s FTSE gained 0.2 per cent, Paris added 0.2 per cent and Frankfurt rose 0.2 per cent.
Asian markets closed mixed on Friday, Tokyo’s Nikkei closed 0.9 per cent higher, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.4 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite was up 0.2 per cent.
On the futures markets, the ASX futures are pointing to a 1pt loss. On Friday, the Australian share market closed flat with the S&P/ASX 200 Index closing 3 points higher to 6247.
Company news Senior living company the Aveo Group
(ASX:AOG) has received six proposals from investment banks and real estate advisors. The Board is currently finalising the mandate arrangements for the lead advisors. The advisors will oversee a strategic review of Aveo Group’s retirement portfolio and operations and Aveo Group will announce the successful appointment in the near future. The strategic review will examine options to close the value gap between the price of Aveo’s listed securities and the underlying value of Aveo’s retirement properties. Capital partners could be introduced into the retirement business. Shares in Aveo Group
(ASX:AOG) closed 0.44 per cent higher to $2.28 on Friday.
IPOCyber security platform due to float today archTIS
(ASX:AR9). $0.20 ordinary fully paid shares.
Reporting Season- Amaysim Australia
(ASX:AYS)- Compumedics
(ASX:CMP)- DroneShield
(ASX:DRO)- G8 Education
(ASX:GEM)- Michael Hill International
(ASX:MHJ)- Monash IVF Group
(ASX:MVF)- NetComm Wireless
(ASX:NTC)Ex-dividendAurizon Holdings
(ASX:AZJ) is paying 13.1 cents 60 per cent franked
Coca-Cola Amatil
(ASX:CCL) is paying 21 cents 65 per cent franked
GWA Group
(ASX:GWA) is paying 9.5 cents fully franked
Greencross
(ASX:GXL) is paying 5.5 cents fully franked
HiTech
(ASX:HIT) is paying 4 cents fully franked
Primary Health Care
(ASX:PRY) is paying 5.5 cents fully franked
Shriro Holdings
(ASX:SHM) is paying 4 cents fully franked
Summerset Grp Hldgs
(ASX:SNZ) is paying 4.61 cents unfranked
Currencies One Australian Dollar at 7:40AM was buying US73.29 cents, 57.06 Pence Sterling, 81.58 Yen and 63.07 Euro cents.
Commodities Iron ore futures are pointing to a 0.2 per cent gain.
Gold has added $19.30 to $US1213 an ounce.
Silver was up 26c to $US14.90 an ounce.
Oil gained 89c to $US68.72 a barrel.
CryptocurrenciesThe three most traded cryptocurrencies are trading lower: Bitcoin has dropped 0.1 per cent to US$6,721, Ethereum has fallen 1.8 per cent to US$275.32 and EOS has lost 1.7 per cent to US$4.95.