Australian shares look set to open lower this morning following a sell off on Wall Street on Friday. Oil, technology and consumer discretionary stocks all fell. Tech was also down with shares of Facebook, Amazon and Netflix all trading lower. Investors were also concerned by disappointing economic data out of China.
Global oil prices fell for a tenth consecutive session, sinking US crude futures deeper into bear market territory, gold was also lower after the Federal Reserve reaffirmed its intention to raise interest rates again in December.
Local economic newsToday the Reserve Bank releases September data on credit and debit card lending On Wednesday, the wage price index is due out as well the Westpac and the Melbourne Institute monthly reading on consumer confidence. On Thursday, the October labour force data is released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and finally, on Friday the ABS releases the State Accounts.
MarketsTo the figures from around the globe: Wall Street closed weaker on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.8 per cent to close at 25,989, the S&P 500 fell 0.9 per cent to 2781 and the NASDAQ dropped 1.7 per cent to 7407.
European markets closed mixed on Friday: London’s FTSE fell 0.5 per cent, Paris also lost 0.5 per cent and Frankfurt rose 0.02 per cent.
Asian markets closed lower on Friday, Tokyo’s Nikkei closed 1.1 per cent lower,Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 2.4 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite dropped 1.4 per cent.
On the futures markets, the SPI futures are pointing to a 37 pts fall. On Friday,t he Australian share market closed lower with the S&P/ASX 200 Index losing 6 points at 5922.
Company newsWoolworths
(ASX:WOW) is set to offload its petrol business. In an announcement after the close of trading on Friday, the company said it had entered into a binding agreement to sell its 540 Woolworths owned fuel convenience sites to EG Group for $1.725 billion. The deal is lower than the $1.8 billion bid made by BP last year which was subsequently rejected by the ACCC. Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci says the "transaction is positive for Woolworths customers, its team and shareholders." EG Group is global leader in food and convenience retailing. The deal is subject to FIRB approval and completion is expected to occur in early 2019. Shares in Woolworths Group
(ASX:WOW) closed 0.24 per cent higher to $29.42 on Friday.
Ex-DividendsANZ
(ASX:ANZ) is paying 80 cents fully franked
Macquarie Group
(ASX:MQG) is paying $2.15 45 per cent franked
Orica
(ASX:ORI) is paying 31.5 cents unfranked
CurrenciesOne Australian Dollar at 7:40AM was buying US72.14 cents, 55.90 Pence Sterling, 82.10 Yen and 63.76 Euro cents.
Commodities Iron ore futures are pointing to a 0.5 per cent fall.
Gold has lost $16.50 to $US1209 an ounce.
Silver was down 28 cents to $US14.14 an ounce.
Oil fell 48 cents to $US60.19 a barrel.
CryptocurrenciesBitcoin has fallen 0.7 per cent to US$6379, Ethereum has lost 1.4per cent to US$210 and Bitcoin Cash was down 4.94 per cent to US$530.
