Australian shares look to open higher after stocks on Wall Street surged overnight. A broad-based rally led the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq to record-highs for the second straight session on Monday. Technology stocks such as Facebook, Amazon, and Netflix led the Nasdaq above 8000 points for the first time, while Caterpillar led gains on the Dow Jones. The rally came after the US and Mexico agreed to overhaul the NAFTA free trade agreement. The countries are moving away from the agreement and are looking at a bilateral trade deal. Disputes between the United States and its trading partners have been a drag on investor sentiment for much of the year despite solid economic results and strong corporate earnings.
Taking a look at commodities, oil prices closed slightly higher yesterday as rising output put a cap on last week’s substantial gains, gold hovered above $1200 an ounce as major currencies gained against the US dollar.
MarketsWall Street closed higher on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 1.01 per cent higher to 26,050, the S&P 500 gained 0.77 per cent to 2,897 and the NASDAQ rose 0.9 per cent to close at 8018.
European markets closed higher yesterday: London’s FTSE was closed, Paris gained 0.9 per cent and Frankfurt added 1.2 per cent.
Asian markets closed higher, Tokyo’s Nikkei added 0.9 per cent lower, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 2.2 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite rose 1.9 per cent.
Back home, the SPI futures are pointing to a 23 points gain. Yesterday, the Australian share market closed higher with the S&P/ASX 200 Index adding 22 points to close at 6269.
Company newsMirvac Group
(ASX:MGR) has received an A- stable rating from Fitch. This is the first time the international credit rating agency has assigned the rating to the property company. Mirvac says the A- Stable credit rating is further demonstration of the resilience of Mirvac’s diversified business model and strong balance sheet. Shares in Mirvac Group
(ASX:MGR) closed 0.85 per cent higher at $2.37 yesterday.
Reporting seasonBlackmores
(ASX:BKL), Caltex Australia
(ASX:CTX), URB Investments
(ASX:URB) and Raiz Invest
(ASX:RZI) are all set to report today
Ex-dividendsApollo Tourism
(ASX:ATL) is paying 3c unfranked
Alumina
(ASX:AWC) is paying 11.8c fully franked
CMI
(ASX:CMI) is paying 3c fully franked
Evolution Mining
(ASX:EVN) is paying 4c fully franked
Fiducian Group
(ASX:FID) is paying 11c fully franked
Glennon SML Co
(ASX:GC1) is paying 3c fully franked
Lendlease Group
(ASX:LLC) is paying 35c unfranked
Mainstream Group
(ASX:MAI) is paying 1c fully franked
Microequities
(ASX:MAM) is paying 1c fully franked
Newcrest Mining
(ASX:NCM) is paying 15.11 fully franked
Santos
(ASX:STO) is paying 4.76c fully franked
Wagners Hld Company
(ASX:WGN) is paying 3.5c fully franked
WorleyParsons
(ASX:WOR) is paying 15c unfranked
CommoditiesIron ore futures are pointing to 0.1 per cent fall.
Gold added $4.20 to $US1218 an ounce.
Silver was up 7c at $US14.97 an ounce.
Oil added 20c to $US68.92 a barrel.
CryptocurrenciesThe three most traded cryptocurrencies are trading higher: Bitcoin has added 0.6 per cent to US$6755, Ethereum has gained 1.1 per cent to US$278 and EOS was up 4.9 per cent to US$5.19.
