Australian shares are set to open lower this morning with eyes on Britain. In the UK Theresa May's Brexit deal was once again rejected by Parliament - MPs voted against the amended Brexit deal by 391 to 242. Investors are watching and waiting for more developments from London as her leadership is thrown into doubt. The pound fell. In the US, Boeing shares tumbled following fatal crash in Ethiopia and a number of countries choosing to ground their 737 MAX 8 aircraft.
Local Economic News Westpac-Melbourne Institute will release figures for consumer confidence in March later today.
Markets Wall Street closed mixed yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.4 per cent to close at 25,555, the S&P 500 added 0.3 per cent to close at 2,792 and the NASDAQ gained 0.4 per cent to close at 7591.
European markets closed mixed: London’s FTSE added 0.3 per cent, Paris gained 0.1 per cent and Frankfurt was down 0.2 per cent.
Asian markets closed higher, Tokyo’s Nikkei increased 1.8 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.5 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite added 1.1 per cent.
Taking all of this into equation, the ASX futures are down 9 points. Yesterday the Australian share market closed 0.1 per cent lower or 5 points at 6175.
Company newsAltura Mining
(ASX:AJM) has decided to increase the capacity of the security purchase plan from $5 million to $10 million. The company has been inundated with demand from existing share holders for the offer announced on February 7 2019. Managing Director James Brown says: "Our operations have turned a corner and we now have a clear pathway to declaring commercial production.” Shareholders are reminded the SPP offer closes at 5.00pm Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time on Friday 15 March 2019. Shares in Altura Mining
(ASX:AJM) closed 3.57 per cent lower at 13.5 cents yesterday.
Ex-Dividend Adacel Technologies Limited
(ASX:ADA) is paying 1 cent unfranked
Costa Group Holdings Ltd
(ASX:CGC) is paying 5 cents fully franked
CSL Limited
(ASX:CSL) is paying 120.3175 cents unfranked
GR Engineering Services Ltd
(ASX:GNG) is paying 4 cents fully franked
Hub24 Ltd
(ASX:HUB) is paying 2 cents unfranked
IVE Group Ltd
(ASX:IGL) is paying 8.6 cents fully franked
Inghams Group Ltd
(ASX:ING) is paying 9 cents fully franked
Mercury NZ Ltd
(ASX:MCY) is paying 5.9569 cents unfranked
Northern Star Resources Ltd
(ASX:NST) is paying 6 cents fully franked
PM Capital Asian Opportunities Fund Ltd
(ASX:PAF) is paying 2 cents fully franked
Regis Healthcare Ltd
(ASX:REG) is paying 8.12 cents fully franked
Vitalharvest Freehold Trust
(ASX:VTH) is paying 4 cents unfranked
CurrenciesOne Australian Dollar at 7:40 AM was buying 70.82 US cents, 54.22 Pence Sterling, 78.82 Yen and 62.74 Euro cents.
CommoditiesIron Ore futures suggest a 0.7 per cent gain.
Gold has gained $11 to US$1302 an ounce.
Silver has added $0.18 to US$15.46 an ounce.
Oil was $0.13 higher at US$57.25 a barrel.
