US stocks surged back into positive territory: ASX set to open higher

Market Reports

by Rachael Jones

Australian shares are set to start off the last day of the trading week higher. US stocks surged back into positive territory, all three benchmarks leapt up with the Nasdaq registering its biggest increase since March. Yields on Treasuries rose and the US dollar strengthened to the highest level this year - the Australian dollar edged slightly higher. Amazon released their third quarter results after the US market closes – with revenue below expectations. Alphabet also just reported its Q3 2018 results, with earnings of $33.74 billion — up 21 per cent from the same quarter last year but not beating expectations.

Markets

Wall Street closed higher yesterday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.6 per cent to close at 24,985, the S&P 500 gained 1.9 per cent to 2,706 and the NASDAQ ended almost 3 per cent higher at 7318

European markets closed higher yesterday: London’s FTSE added 0.6per cent, Paris gained 1.6 per cent and Frankfurt closed 1.03 per cent higher.

Asian markets closed mixed, Tokyo’s Nikkei dropped 3.7 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.01 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite added 0.02 per cent.

On the futures markets, the ASX futures are pointing to a 73 points gain. Yesterday, the Australian share market closed lower with the S&P/ASX 200 Index closing 165 points lower to 5664.

Company news 

The bidder's statement has been sent for off market take over bids by oil and gas explorer Strike Energy (ASX:STX) for UIL Energy (ASX:UIL). The offer for all of the ordinary shares and convertible preference shares in UIL will close at 7 PM syndey time on the 30 Nov. Strike and UIL will form a new merged group that consolidates both company’s portfolios.
Its primary focus is the large onshore gas resource Southern Cooper Basin in South Australia. Brisbane-based UIL’s prospects are based in North and Central Perth. Shares in Strike Energy (ASX:STX) closed 4.17 per cent lower to 11.5 cents yesterday.

Ex-Dividends 

Premier Investments (ASX:PMV) is paying 33 cents fully franked. 

Currencies

One Australian Dollar at 7:40AM was buying US70.82 cents, 55.28 Pence Sterling, 79.64 Yen and 62.28 Euro cents.

Commodities

Iron ore futures are pointing to 0.37 per cent gain
Gold gained $3.10 to $US1234 an ounce.
Silver was down 2 cents at $US14.66 an ounce.
Oil added 14 cents to $US66.96 a barrel.

Cryptocurrencies

The three most traded cryptocurrencies are trading lower: Bitcoin has lost 0.3 per cent to US$6478, Ethereum has dropped 0.7 per cent to US$203 and EOS was down 0.2 per cent to US$5.39.
 

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