Big week for economic data: ASX set to open higher

Market Reports

by Rachael Jones

Australian shares are set to open higher this morning US stocks were mixed on Friday ahead of Labor Day in the US.
President Donald Trump failed to reach an agreement with Canada concerning trade and also rejected an EU offer to eliminate tariffs on cars. The China/US trade war will also be of concern once again this week. We have a large amount of local economic data to be released this week investors will be keeping their eyes out for.

Local economic news

From the Australian Bureau of statistics today we can expect to see:-
Business Indicators, for June 2018.
Mineral and Petroleum Exploration results, for June 2018.
Retail Trade figures, July 2018.

Tuesday
Balance of Payments and International Investment Position, Australia, June 2018.
Government Finance Statistics, June 2018.
RBA's policy meeting

Wednesday
Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product, June 2018.
And the release of second quarter GDP data on Wednesday from the RBA

Thursday
International Trade in Goods and Services, July 2018.
Building Approvals, July 2018

Friday
Housing Finance, for July 2018.

Markets

To the figures from around the globe: Wall Street closed mixed on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.1 per cent to close at 25,965, the S&P 500 closed almost flat at 2902 and the NASDAQ closed 0.3 per cent higher to 8110.

European markets closed lower on Friday: London’s FTSE dropped 1.11 per cent, Paris fell 1.3 per cent and Frankfurt was down over 1 per cent.

Asian markets closed lower on Friday, Tokyo’s Nikkei closed 0.02% lower, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell almost 1 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite was down 0.5%.

On the futures markets, the ASX futures are pointing to a 26pts gain. On Friday, the Australian share market closed lower with the S&P/ASX 200 Index closing 32 points lower to 6320.

Company news

Uranium production company Paladin Energy (ASX:PDN) is pleased to announce that the relevant documents have been executed, and court approvals received regarding a proposal to extinguish the claims against certain Paladin Canadian subsidiaries, originally owed to Électricité de France. Deutsche Bank AG acquired those claims and subsequently sold down parts of its interest in the security over the Michelin Project to a number of parties. As a result, all existing claims which the EDF Claimants have against Paladin’s Canadian subsidiaries that own 60.1 per cent of the Michelin Project, are now discharged. The EDF Claimants now have a 50 per cent participating interest in the Michelin Project through a newly incorporated special purpose vehicle incorporated in British Columbia. Shares in Paladin Energy (ASX:PDN) closed flat at 20c on Friday.

Commodities

Iron ore futures are pointing to a 0.7 per cent loss.
Gold has added $1.70 to $US1207 an ounce.
Silver was down 4c to $US14.56 an ounce.
Oil lost 45c to $US69.80 a barrel.

Cryptocurrencies

The three most traded cryptocurrencies are trading mixed: Bitcoin has added 1.1 per cent to US$7,277, Ethereum has fallen 1.2 per cent to US$294.13 and EOS has lost 1.4 per cent to US$6.56.
 
Ex-Dividends


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