Following weak leads from US markets, Australian shares looks set to open lower. US stocks ended in the red on Monday, giving up sharp gains made earlier in the session. The falls came amid the possibility of more US China tariffs combined with an ongoing sell off in tech shares. Amazon and Netflix were among the days worst performers, down 6.3 and 5 per cent respectively.
On the commodities front, oil prices fell on Monday as Russia indicated its output will remain high but losses were capped with US sanctions on Iran expected to reduce supplies when they come into effect in less than a week., gold eased pressured by a strong US dollar and iron ore was flat.
Local economic newsThe ABS releases the Building approvals data for Sep.
MarketsThe Dow Jones Industrial Average fell almost 1 per cent to close at 24,443 the S&P 500 lost 0.7 per cent to 2,641 and the NASDAQ shed 1.6 per cent higher at 7050.
European markets closed higher yesterday: London’s FTSE added 1.3 per cent, Paris gained 0.4 per cent and Frankfurt closed 1.2 per cent higher.
Asian markets closed mixed, Tokyo’s Nikkei dropped 0.2 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.4 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite fell 2.2 per cent.
On the futures markets, the SPI futures are pointing to a 51 points fall. Yesterday, the Australian share market closed higher with the S&P/ASX 200 Index closing 63 points higher to 5728.
Company newsViva Energy Group
(ASX:VEA) has provided a refining margin update for its crude intake processed through its Geelong Refinery for the month of September. Intake was 3.6 thousand barrels of oil. The Geelong refining margin was US$8.1 per barrel. Viva Energy is one of Australia's leading energy companies and supplies about a quarter of the country's liquid fuel requirements. Shares in Viva Energy Group
(ASX:VEA) closed 2.33 per cent higher $2.20 yesterday.
Ex-Dividends CTI Logistics
(ASX:CLX) is paying 2 cents fully franked
Gryphon Capital Income Trust
(ASX:GCI) is paying 0.88 cents unfranked
Stanmore Coal
(ASX:SMR) is paying 2 cents unfranked
Universal Coal PLC
(ASX:UNV) is paying 1 cents unfranked
CurrenciesOne Australian Dollar at 7:40AM was buying US70.60 cents, 55.15 Pence Sterling, 79.30Yen and 62.02 Euro cents.
Commodities Iron ore futures are pointing to 0.8 per cent fall
Gold fell $5.00 to $US1231 an ounce.
Silver was down 23c at $US14.47 an ounce.
Oil dropped 92 cents to $US66.67 a barrel.
CryptocurrenciesThe three most traded cryptocurrencies are trading lower: Bitcoin has lost 2.3 per cent to US$6325, Ethereum has dropped 3.8 per cent to US$197 and EOS was down 5.1 per cent to US$5.13.
