Australian shares are set to drop at the open, after a sell-off on Wall Street. High-flying technology shares led the sell off with the Nasdaq shedding around 2 per cent. Elsewhere around the world the Shanghai Composite Index plunged earlier this week but Hong Kong stocks clawed back to end flat. On the commodities front oil fell to its lowest level in almost a month due to growing American stockpiles. Nickel hit a one-month low on Thursday, with copper and lead prices also in the red, possibly due to higher US interest rates.
MarketsWall Street closed lower yesterday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.3 per cent to close at 23,379, the S&P 500 shed 1.4 per cent to 2,769 and the NASDAQ dropped 2.1 per cent higher to close at 7485.
European markets closed lower yesterday: London’s FTSE fell 0.4 per cent, Paris closed 0.6 per cent lower and Frankfurt dropped 1.1 per cent.
Asian markets closed lower, Tokyo’s Nikkei dropped 0.8 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.03 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite shed 2.9 per cent.
On the futures markets, the ASX futures are pointing to a 51 points fall. Yesterday, the Australian share market closed flat with the S&P/ASX 200 Index adding 3 points to 5942.
Company news Trent Ottawa, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Gateway Lifestyle Group
(ASX:GTY) has resigned effective immediately. He founded Gateway Lifestyle in 2009 and has been Managing Director since the company listed in June 2015. In addition, Kevin Tucker has replaced Leanne Nolan as company secretary of Gateway Lifestyle Operations. Shares in Gateway Lifestyle Group
(ASX:GTY) closed 0.5 per cent lower to $2.23 yesterday.
Ex-Dividends Antipodes Global Investment Company
(ASX:APL) is paying 5 cents 50 per cent franked.
APN Outdoor Group
(ASX:APO) is paying 30 cents fully franked.
New Hope Corporation
(ASX:NHC) is paying 8 cents fully franked.
One Australian Dollar at 7:40AM was buying US71.03 cents, 54.57 Pence Sterling, 79.65 Yen and 62.01 Euro cents.
Commodities Iron ore futures are pointing to 0.8 per cent fall
Gold gained $1.40 to $US1229 an ounce.
Silver was down 7 cents at $US14.60 an ounce.
Oil dropped 95 cents to $US68.75 a barrel.
CryptocurrenciesThe three most traded cryptocurrencies are trading lower: Bitcoin has fallen 0.7 per cent to US$6491, Ethereum has dropped 1.5 per cent to US$204 and XRP has shed 2.9 per cent to US45 cents.
