Australian shares are poised to open lower as uncertainty still hangs over the US and China trade truce. In the US the S&P 500 Index rose more than 1 per cent, building on gains posted during the biggest weekly increase in almost seven years, after leaders of the two countries agreed to hold off on new tariffs and intensify trade talks. PepsiCo and Coca-Cola helped weigh down consumer staples in the US as PepsiCo and Coca-Cola led a rise in energy shares Shares closed higher in Europe. The Australian dollar rose.
MarketsWall Street closed higher yesterday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.1 per cent to 25,826 the S&P 500 added 1.1 per cent to 2,790 and the NASDAQ climbed 1.5 per cent to 7442.
European markets closed higher yesterday: London’s FTSE advanced 1.2 per cent, Paris added 1 per cent and Frankfurt jumped 1.9 per cent.
Asian markets closed also higher, Tokyo’s Nikkei added 1 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 2.6 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite also climbed 2.6 per cent.
On the futures markets, the ASX futures are pointing to a 10 points fall. Yesterday, the Australian share market closed higher with the S&P/ASX 200 Index closing 104 points higher to 5771.
Local economic news RBA cash rate decision at 2.30pm
Company newsCarnarvon Petroleum
(ASX:CVN) has secured the contract for the Noble Tom Prosser jack-up drilling rig. The shallow water depths mean that the Joint Venture is able to utilise a cost-effective jack-up drilling rig for its Dorado appraisal wells. The Noble Tom Prosser was also used to drill the Roc-1 discovery in this area in 2016. The 2019 drilling program is expected to include two Dorado appraisal wells that will focus on gaining further information on the volume of oil, gas and condensate discovered in the Dorado-1 well and determining the flow properties of those hydrocarbons from the reservoirs intersected in order to optimise the Dorado development. The Joint venture partners are Carnarvon are 20 per cent and Santos
(ASX:SAN) 80 per cent, operator. Shares in Carnarvon Petroleum
(ASX:CVN) closed 4.55 per cent higher to $0.345 yesterday.
Ex-dividendsAristocrat Leisure
(ASX:ALL) is paying 27 cents fully franked.
CurrenciesOne Australian Dollar at 8:40AM was buying US73.56 cents, 57.81 Pence Sterling, 83.57 Yen and 64.82 Euro cents.
Commodities Iron ore futures are pointing to 0.4 per cent gain
Gold rose $10.20 to $US1236.20 an ounce.
Silver was up 24 cents at $US14.46 an ounce.
Oil advanced $2.18 to $US53.11 a barrel.
