The Australian sharemarket looks set to edge higher this morning after US stocks rose on Tuesday. Wall Street received a boost from technology stocks as shares in Netflix jumped almost 7 per cent after it said it was raising prices for subscribers. Meantime, Shares in JP Morgan rose 0.4 per cent while Wells Fargo fell 2.1 per cent in response to latest earnings data.
Stocks did pare some of their gains after U.K. lawmakers voted against the Brexit plans of U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May, investors are concerned that global economic growth could take a hit as a result.The British Parliament has rejected the Brexit deal by 432 votes to 202 votes. It’s reportedly the largest defeat for a sitting government in Britain's political history.
Global markets also received a boost after China has announced private sector tax cuts to combat a slowdown in the country's economy with a package of rebates for millions of small companies that economists say is worth 2 trillion yuan.
Global marketsWall Street closed higher yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7 per cent to close at 24,066 the S&P 500 gained 1.1 per cent to close at 2610 and the NASDAQ was up 1.7 per cent to close at 7024.
European markets closed also higher: London’s FTSE gained 0.6 per cent, Paris rose 0.5 per cent and Frankfurt increased by 0.3 per cent.
Asian markets closed higher: Tokyo’s Nikkei has gained 1 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 2 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite rose 1.4 per cent.
Returning home, the SPI futures are eyeing a lift of 4 points, yesterday the Australian share market closed 41 point higher at 5,815.
Local economic newsThe monthly consumer confidence figures and data on Building Activity for the September quarter are due for release today.
Company newsNew Zealand electricity company, Meridian Energy
(ASX:MEZ) has announced national electricity demand in December was 4.5 per cent lower than the same month last year. The company's retail sales volumes in December were 23.9 per cent lower than December 2017. Shares in Meridian Energy
(ASX:MEZ) closed 2.6 per cent higher at $3.50 yesterday.
Ex DividendsEuroz
(ASX:EZL) is paying 1.75 cents fully franked and Plato Income Maximiser
(ASX:PL8) is paying 0.5 cents fully franked.
CurrenciesOne Australian Dollar at 8.30 AM was buying 72.01 US cents, 55.94 Pence Sterling, 78.28 Yen and 63.1 Euro cents.
Commodities Iron Ore futures are 0.7 per cent higher.
Gold has lost $2.10 to US$1289 an ounce.
Silver has shed $0.06 to US$15.63 an ounce.
Oil has gained $1.54 to US$52.34 a barrel.
