Australian shares look set to open higher this morning following positive leads from US markets. Stocks rose slightly after President Donald Trump hinted he may push back a key tariff deadline. The President also said that trade talks between US and Chinese officials have gone very well. Equities received a boost after Walmart posted a bumper holiday quarter on the back of higher grocery and e-commerce sales, bucking recent signs of a slowdown in consumer spending.
Local Economic NewsToday we can look out for the Wage Price Index from the ABS and skilled Vacancies data for January
Reporting SeasonReporting season continues today with results expected from a number of companies including; APA Group
(ASX:APA), Charter Hall Retail REIT
(ASX:CQR), Crown Resorts
(ASX:CWN), Domino's Pizza Enterprises
(ASX:DMP), Fortescue Metals Group
(ASX:FMG), Stockland
(ASX:SGP), Worley Parsons
(ASX:WOR) and WiseTech Global
(ASX:WTC).
MarketsTo the figures from around the globe: Wall Street closed higheryesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.03 per cent to close at 25,891, the S&P 500 gained 0.2 per cent to close at 2,780and the NASDAQ was up 0.2 per cent to close at 7487.
European markets closed mixed: London’s FTSE lost 0.6 per cent, Parisfell 0.2 per centand Frankfurt gained 0.1 per cent.
Asian markets closed mixed, Tokyo’s Nikkei closed 0.1 per centhigher,Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell0.4 per centand China’s Shanghai Composite added 0.1 per cent.
Returning home, the SPI futures are up 11 points. Yesterday the Australian share market closed 17 points higher to 6107.
Company newsThe a2 Milk
(ASX:A2M) company has announced its half year results for financial year 2019 with net profit, earnings and revenue all higher compared to the year earlier period. Net profit rose 55 per cent to $153 million. Revenue increased by 41 per cent to $613 million. Earnings popped 53 per cent to $218 million. The company had strong US milk revenue growth of 114 per cent. Following a very strong first half performance, and encouraged by growing market share in China, the Company is now in a position to reinvest the benefits of scale into increased marketing activities in the second half. Shares in the A2 Milk Company
(ASX:A2M) closed 2.68 per cent lower to $12.34
Ex-DivAGL Energy
(ASX:AGL) is paying 55c 80 per cent franked
Class
(ASX:CL1) is paying 2.5c fully franked
Domain Holdings Aus
(ASX:DHG) is paying 2c fully franked
Downer EDI
(ASX:DOW) is paying 14c 50 franked
Newcrest Mining
(ASX:NCM) is paying 10.513c fully franked
Navigator Global
(ASX:NGI) is paying 11.2139c unfranked
Suncorp Group
(ASX:SUN) is paying 26c fully franked
CurrenciesOne Australian Dollar at 8:40 AM was buying 71.65 US cents, 54.87 Pence Sterling, 79.22 Yen and 63.19 Euro cents.
CommoditiesIron Ore has gained 1.0 per cent to at US$89.21. It futures suggest a 1.1 per cent fall.
Gold has added$22.10 to US$1344 an ounce.
Silver has gained $0.22 to US$15.96 an ounce.
Oil has risen $0.45 to US$56.43 a barrel.
