Australian shares are set to edge higher at the open. Shares on Wall Street ended mixed with the Dow closing at a record high, the S&P 500 flat and the Nasdaq down. Shopping giant Amazon.com increased wages in the US, putting pressure on other retailers and forcing declines. The US dollar, Treasuries and commodities advanced. The Australian dollar dropped below 72 US cents.
Local economic news AiG will release the performance of services for September and the Australian Bureau of Statistics will release building approvals for August
Markets The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.5 per cent to close at 26,774, the S&P 500 lost 0.04 per cent to 2,923 and the NASDAQ ended 0.5 per cent lower to close at 7999.6.
European markets closed lower yesterday: London’s FTSE lost 0.3 per cent, Paris dropped 0.7 per cent and Frankfurt fell 0.4 per cent.
Asian markets closed mixed, Tokyo’s Nikkei added 0.1 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 2.4 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite was closed.
On the futures markets, the ASX futures are pointing to a 10 points gain. Yesterday, the Australian share market closed lower with the S&P/ASX 200 Index closing 46 points lower to 6126.
Company newsAfterpay Touch Group
(ASX:APT) yesterday announced that it has entered into a Business Sale Deed with Nelumbo to sell its European e-Services business for $7.5 million payable in two tranches - $4.0 million at completion and $3.5 million within six months of completion. The Agreement follows Afterpay’s review of its European e-Services business which was announced on 19 July 2018. Completion of the sale is subject to standard conditions. The parties are working towards a completion date of 2 December 2018.
Shares in Afterpay Touch Group
(ASX:APT) closed 0.2 per cent higher to $17.43 yesterday
Energy World Corporation
(ASX:EWC) released a press release for shareholders with regards to the Northern Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia which has caused significant loss of life and widespread damage. They say through their Indonesian subsidiaries, they will be supporting the relief effort as these communities commence the process to rebuild their lives. And that fortunately, none of their staff have been directly affected and our projects, which are all located in Southern Sulawesi, approximately 350 kilometres south of the worst hit areas, did not suffer any damage. Their thoughts and prayers are with all those that have suffered as a result of this natural disaster.
Shares in Energy World Corp
(ASX:EWC) closed 2.7 per cent higher to 19c yesterday
Ex-DividendsAcademies Aus Group
(ASX:AKG) is paying 1c fully franked
Ausdrill
(ASX:ASL) is paying) is paying 3.5c fully franked
Briscoe Group
(ASX:BGP) is paying 7.3449c unfranked
Collection House
(ASX:CLH) is paying 3.9c fully franked
Eildon Capital
(ASX:EDC) is paying 1.925c fully franked
One Australian Dollar at 7:40AM was buying US71.91 cents, 55.39 Pence Sterling, 81.72 Yen and 62.27 Euro cents.
Commodities Gold gained $15.60 to $US1207 an ounce.
Silver was up 21 cent at $US14.72 an ounce.
Oil fell 26 cent to $US75.04 a barrel.
CryptocurrenciesThe three most traded cryptocurrencies are trading lower: Bitcoin has dropped 0.3 per cent to US$6561, Ethereum has fallen 1.6 per cent to US$227 and XRP has lost 5.3 per cent to US54.6 cents.
