Following weak leads from US markets, the Australian share market looks set to drop at the open. US stocks fell sharply on Monday with tech stocks, Facebook and Apple leading the downward charge. Shares in Apple plunged almost 4 per cent after reports the company had cut production orders for its new iPhone. The tech sector pulled back almost 4 per for the session..
On the commodities front, oil prices rose on Monday after reports of a drawdown of US oil inventories, potential European Union sanctions on Iran and possible OPEC production cuts. Gold edged higher yesterday as the dollar fell
Local economic newsBack home we can look out for the National Accounts publication from the ABS today.
MarketsWall Street closed lower yesterday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.6 per cent to close at 25,017, the S&P 500 dropped 1.7 per cent to 2,691 and the NASDAQ shed 3.03 per cent to 7028.
European markets closed lower yesterday: London’s FTSE fell 0.2 per cent, Paris dropped 0.8 per cent and Frankfurt was down 0.9 per cent.
Asian markets closed higher, Tokyo’s Nikkei added 0.7 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.7 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite was up 0.9 per cent.
On the futures markets, the ASX futures are pointing to a 16 points fall. Yesterday, the Australian share market closed lower with the S&P/ASX 200 Index closing 37 points lower to 5694.
Company newsThe a2 Milk Company
(ASX:A2M) says its net profit for the 4 months to October 2018 rose 65 per cent to NZ$86 million when compared with the year earlier period. The company says it expects strong revenue growth to continue but at a slightly more moderate rate than the first four months. The companu says its confident of the strength of sales into the Chinese market Shares in the A2 Milk Company
(ASX:A2M) closed 2.51 per cent higher to $9.80 yesterday.
Currencies One Australian Dollar at 8:40AM was buying US72.94 cents, 56.77 Pence Sterling, 82.09Yen and 63.71 Euro cents.
Commodities Iron ore futures are pointing to 0.6 per cent gain
Gold gained $1.50 to $US1225 an ounce.
Silver was up 2 cents at $US14.40 an ounce.
Oil added 63 cents to$US57.31 a barrel.
CryptocurrenciesBitcoin has dropped 12.1 per cent to US$4930, Ethereum has fallen almost 15 per cent to US$150 and XRP was down 2.9 per cent to US$0.48.
