Australian shares look set open higher this morning following strong leads from Wall Street on Friday.Stocks rose in the US as another round of trade talks between the U.S. and China wrapped up with investors increasingly more hopeful a deal will be struck. Wall Street has had a bumper start to the year with the major indexes all up at least 11 percent in 2019 as the Federal Reserve indicates it will be patient in raising rates.
Local Economic NewsThe week kicks off on Wednesday when the ABS releases Construction Work estimates for the December quarter. On Thursday, we can expect data on Private capital expenditure and also job market estimates from the ABS. Finally, on Friday CoreLogic releases its comprehensive estimates of home prices for February.
Reporting SeasonReporting season has entered its final week and there are a number of companies reporting today including Boral
(ASX:BLD) BlueScope Steel
(ASX:BSL) LendLease Group
(ASX:LLC), QBE Insurance Group
(ASX:QBE) and Silex Systems
(ASX:SLX).
MarketsTo the figures from around the globe: Wall Street closed higher on Friday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.7 per cent to close at 26,032, the S&P 500 added 0.6 per cent to close at 2,793 and the NASDAQ increased 0.9 per cent to close at 7528.
European markets closed higher on Friday: London’s FTSE added 0.2 per cent, Paris gained 0.4 per cent and Frankfurt increased 0.3 per cent.
Asian markets closed mixed on Friday: Tokyo’s Nikkei fell 0.2 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.7 per cent while China’s Shanghai Composite was up 1.9 per cent.
Returning home the SPI futures are up 8 points. On Friday, the Australian share market closed 0.5 per cent higher or 28 points higher to 6167.
Company newsBuy now pay later company, Zip Co Limited (ASX: Z1P) has welcomed the final report from a Senate committee released on Friday afternoon which recommended the government along with the corporate regulator consider what regulatory framework would be appropriate for the modern day lay by sector. The report stopped short of recommending companies such as Zip and Afterpay conduct costly credit checks before they sign up customers. Zip says the report is an important step in establishing a balanced regulatory framework. Shares in Zip Co
(ASX:Z1P)closed 3.6 per cent higher at $1.44 on Friday.
Ex divAurizon Holdings
(ASX:AZJ) is paying 11.4 cents 70 per cent franked
Breville Group
(ASX:BRG) is paying 18.5 cents 60 per cent franked
Contango Income Generator
(ASX:CIE) is paying 1.55 cents fully franked
NAOS Ex-50 Opportunities Company
(ASX:NAC) is paying 1.35 cents fully franked
NAOS Small Cap Opportunities Company
(ASX:NSC) is paying 1.15 cents fully franked
Netwealth Group
(ASX:NWL) is paying 5.5 cents fully franked
Steadfast Group
(ASX:SDF) is paying 3.2 cents fully franked
Whitehaven Coal
(ASX:WHC) is paying 20 cents unfranked
CurrenciesOne Australian Dollar at 7:40AM was buying 71.40US cents, 54.67 Pence Sterling, 79.01 Yen and 62.93 Euro cents.
Commodities Iron ore futures suggest a 2.1 per cent gain.
Gold has gained $5.00 to US$1333 an ounce.
Silver has added $0.11 to US$16.01 an ounce.
Oil has gained $0.30 to US$57.26 a barrel.
