Australian shares are set to open higher this morning after rally on Wall Street. US stocks rose on Wednesday as tech rallied and oil prices pushed energy higher, rebounding after two days of heavy selling. There is speculation in the US the Federal Reserve may soften its stance on raising interest rates. Thanksgiving this week will lighten trading. Shares also rose across Europe.
Wall Street closed mostly higher yesterday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed flat at 24,465, the S&P 500 added 0.3 per cent higher to 2,650 and the NASDAQ was up 0.92 per cent to 6972.
European markets closed higher yesterday: London’s FTSE added 1.5 per cent, Paris rose 1.03 per cent lower and Frankfurt was up 1.6 per cent.
Asian markets closed mixed, Tokyo’s Nikkei fell 0.4 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.5 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite was up 0.2 per cent.
On the futures markets, the ASX futures are pointing to a 18 points gain. Yesterday, the Australian share market closed lower with the S&P/ASX 200 Index closing 29 points lower to 564.
Company newsTilt Renewables
(ASX:TLT) have released a response to the takeover offer made by Infratil and Mercury NZ. Tilt JV gives notice under rule 49A of the Takeovers Code that the total level of acceptances of the offer has increase by 1 per cent or more of the total issued ordinary shares in Tilt. Infratil and Mercury NZ, which together hold a combined stake of 71 per cent in Tilt Renewables
(ASX:TLT), want to acquire the 29 per cent they do not own in the renewables developer. Shares in Tilt Renewables
(ASX:TLT) closed flat at $2.25 yesterday.
Ex-dividendsIncitec Pivot
(ASX:IPL) is paying 6.2 cents 20 per cent franked.
Z Energy
(ASX:ZEL) is paying 11.541 cents unfranked.
CurrenciesOne Australian Dollar at 8:40AM was buying US72.65 cents, 56.88 Pence Sterling, 82.15 Yen and 63.82 Euro cents.
Commodities Iron ore futures are pointing to 1.95 per cent gain.
Gold gained $5.10 to $US1226 an ounce.
Silver was up 21 cents at $US14.47 an ounce.
Oil added $1.06 cents to $US54.49 a barrel.
CryptocurrenciesBitcoin has gained 2.2 per cent to US$4484, Ethereum has added 1.2 per cent to US$133.72 and EOS was up 0.8 per cent to US$3.74
