Australian shares look set to open flat ahead of the latest RBA policy meeting. Overnight trading was quiet with Wall Street closed for the Labor Day public holiday. Trading in Europe was muted as worries about US trade policy and concern over emerging markets weighed on stocks. European shares ended the session little changed.
On the commodities front, gold fell on Monday as the dollar remained firm on worries of increasing trade tensions. Oil prices steadied, weighed down by a rising supply from OPEC and the United States, but supported by concerns that falling Iranian output will tighten markets once US sanctions come into place from November.
Local economic newsThe Reserve Bank Board meets with interest rates likely to remain unchanged for a 25th straight month.
Also out today the government finance and the quarterly balance of payments data are due for release.
MarketsWall Street was closed on Monday.
European markets closed mixed yesterday: London’s FTSE added almost 1 per cent, Paris gained 0.1 per cent and Frankfurt lost0.1 per cent.
Asian markets closed lower, Tokyo’s Nikkei lost 0.7per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.6 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite lost 0.2 per cent.
On the futures markets, the SPI futures are pointing to a 3points fall. Yesterday, the Australian share market closed lower with the S&P/ASX 200 Index losing 9 points to close at 6311.
Company news Diversified real estate company, Mirvac
(ASX:MGR) has announced the purchase of an office building located in Melbourne's CBD for $122 million. The building, located in La Trobe Street is a seven-level B-grade office tower. The company intends to redevelop the site into a new A grade office tower spanning over 400 thousand metres. Mirvac says the acquisition presents the company with a rare opportunity to secure a significant development asset in Melbourne's CBD. Shares in Mirvac Group
(ASX:MGR) closed 0.82 per cent higher at $2.45.
Ex-dividendsBega Cheese
(ASX:BGA) is paying5.5 cents 100 per cent franked
Boral
(ASX:BLD) is paying 14 cents 50 per cent franked
Hansen Technologies
(ASX:HSN) is paying4 cents 100 per cent franked
Nine Entertainment
(ASX:NEC) is paying 5 cents 100 per cent franked
National Veterinary
(ASX:NVL) is paying 3 cents 100 per cent franked
Objective Corp
(ASX:OCL) is paying 5 cents 100 per cent franked
Oil Search
(ASX:OSH) is paying 2.72 cents unfranked
Probiotec
(ASX:PBP) is paying 2 cents 100 per cent franked
Propel Funeral
(ASX:PFP) is paying 6.4 cents 100 per cent franked
Qantm Intellectual
(ASX:QIP) is paying 4.3 cents 100 per cent franked
St Barbara
(ASX:SBM) is paying 8 cents 100 per cent franked
Scott Pac Group
(ASX:SCO) is paying 10 cents 100 per centfranked
Spark Infrastructure
(ASX:SKI) is paying 8 cents unfranked
Whitehaven Coal
(ASX:WHC) is paying 27 cents unfranked
Commodities Iron ore futures are pointing to 0.3 per cent gain.
Gold added $0.30 to $US1207 an ounce.
Silver was down 3 cents at $US14.53 an ounce.
Oil added 30 cents to $US 70.10 a barrel.
CryptocurrenciesThe three most traded cryptocurrencies are tradingmixed: Bitcoin has added0.3per cent to US$7294, Ethereum has fallen almost 1 per cent to US$291 and EOS was down 0.3per cent to US$6.51.
