A tech rally on Wall St has bolstered Australian shares and we are set to see the ASX open higher this morning. Apple, Amazon and Facebook all rose over 1 per cent. FAANG stocks are doing well after a pull back earlier. After the Federal Reserve raised interest rates – another hike could be likely this year. The Aussie dollar retreated. On the commodities front oil has added and gold has dropped over $12 an ounce.
Local economic news The ABS will release the Labour Account Australia, Quarterly Experimental Estimates for June 2018.
MarketsWall Street closed higher yesterday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.2 per cent to close at 26,439, the S&P 500 gained 0.3 per cent to 2,914 and the NASDAQ ended 0.7 per cent higher to close at 8042.
European markets closed higher yesterday: London’s FTSE gained 0.5 per cent, Paris added 0.5 per cent and Frankfurt rose 0.4 per cent.
Asian markets closed lower, Tokyo’s Nikkei dropped almost 1 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.4 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite was down 0.5 per cent.
On the futures markets, the ASX futures are pointing to a 25 points gain. Yesterday, the Australian share market closed lowers with the S&P/ASX 200 Index closing 11 points lower to 6181.
Company news Australia’s largest woodfibre processor and exporter, Midway Limited
(ASX:MWY), has entered into agreements to substantially increase its commitment in the Tiwi Islands with a $17 million investment in Plantation Management Partners. PMP was acquired by Midway in October 2017 and is a plantation management business with over 70,000 hectares of plantation currently under management in Northern Australia and Southeast Asia. Shares in Midway
(ASX:MWY) closed 1.64 per cent higher to $3.09 yesterday.
Funeral company InvoCare
(ASX:IVC) has appointed two additional NonExecutive Directors to take effect on 1 October 2018, Jackie McArthur and Megan Quinn. Jackie McArthur has more than 20 years’ experience at executive level roles in supply chain and logistics, as well as in operations and many other areas. Megan Quinn has 25 year career specialising in retail, advertising, publishing and design for numerous industries. She cofounded internationally acclaimed NET-A-PORTER in 1999 and has held a variety of leadership and senior executive roles.
Shares InvoCare
(ASX:IVC) closed 2.01 per cent lower to $12.18
Ex-Dividends CI Resources
(ASX:CII) is paying 5 cents fully franked
Global Value Fnd
(ASX:GVF) is paying 3.15 cents 70 franked
Mcp Master Income Trust
(ASX:MXT) is paying 0.79 cents unfranked
One Australian Dollar at 7:40AM was buying US72.08 cents, 55.14 Pence Sterling, 81.74 Yen and 61.93 Euro cents.
Commodities Iron ore futures are pointing to 2.2 per cent fall
Gold dropped $12.70 to $US1186 an ounce.
Silver was down 13 cents at $US14.28 an ounce.
Oil added 62 cents to $US72.19 a barrel.
CryptocurrenciesThe three most traded cryptocurrencies are trading higher: Bitcoin has added 2.8per cent to US$6688, Ethereum has gained 5.2 per cent to US$229 and Bitcoin Cash has increased 8.02 per cent to US$563.
