Local shares look set to open lower following weak leads from Wall Street. US stocks had a mixed finish with the Dow rising for the first time in three days on Monday while the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ ended slightly lower. A rally in the last hour of trade saw stocks regain some ground, but, tech giants, Amazon Netflix and Apple fell for the third day in a row. Gains were capped with investors concerned over rising interest rates and last week's big bounce in bond yields. US bond markets were closed yesterday for a public holiday.
Local economic newsToday the National Australia Bank releases the September business survey.
MarketsWall Street closed mixed yesterday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.2 per cent to close at 26,487, the S&P 500 lost 0.04 per cent to 2,884 and the NASDAQ ended 0.7 per cent lower to close at 7736.
European markets closed lower yesterday: London’s FTSE lost 1.2 per cent, Paris dropped 1.1 per cent and Frankfurt fell 1.4 per cent.
Asian markets were also lower, Tokyo’s Nikkei was closed, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 1.4 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite fell 3.7 per cent.
On the futures markets, the ASX futures are pointing to a 7 points fall. Yesterday, the Australian share market closed lower with the S&P/ASX 200 Index closing 85 points lower to 6100.
Company newsHometown has decided to extend the offer period under its off-market takeover offer for Gateway Lifestyle Group
(ASX:GTY) The offer will now close on the 15th of October. Gateway share holders who accept the offer will receive $2.25 cash per share. The Gateway Board has unanimously recommended that Gateway shareholders accept the offer as soon as possible. Shares in Gateway Lifestyle Group
(ASX:GTY) closed flat at $2.25 yesterday.
Ex-Dividends8IP Emerging Companies
(ASX:8EC) is paying 3 cents unfranked
Reece
(ASX:REH) is paying 14.25 cents fully franked
CurrenciesOne Australian Dollar at 7:40AM was buying US70.80 cents, 54.09 Pence Sterling, 80.16 Yen and 61.62 Euro cents.
Commodities Iron ore futures are pointing to 2.4 per cent gain
Gold lost $13.90 to $US1192 an ounce.
Silver was down 24 cents at $US14.40 an ounce.
Oil fell 9 cents to $US74.25 a barrel.
CryptocurrenciesThe three most traded cryptocurrencies are trading higher: Bitcoin has added1.2per cent to US$6671,Ethereum has gained 2.6per cent to US$230 and EOS has risen 4.4per cent to US$5.95
