Australian shares are set to open higher this morning. US stocks fell for a second day as investors took note of the Federal Reserve’s decision to leave rates unchanged. The US dollar rose. Treasury yields climbed. The price of oil dropped after the Trump administration yesterday stopped issuing waivers that allowed eight countries to buy Iranian crude. The US is looking to Saudi Arabia and OPEC to fill the gap.
Markets Wall Street closed lower yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.5 per cent lower at 26,308, the S&P 500 fell 0.2 per cent to close at 2918 and the NASDAQ lost 0.2 per cent to 8037.
European markets closed mixed: London’s FTSE fell 0.5 per cent, Paris lost 0.9 per cent and Frankfurt closed flat.
In Asian, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.8 while Tokyo’s Nikkei and China’s Shanghai Composite were closed.
Taking all of this into equation, the SPI futures are up 9 points. Yesterday, the Australian share market closed 37 points (0.6 per cent) lower at 6338.
Company news Amcor
(ASX:AMC) shareholders voted in favour of its $9.7 billion takeover of US-based rival Bemis. The move will make Amcor the world's largest plastics packaging company. 96.6 per cent of Amcor investors voted in favour of the deal at a meeting in Melbourne yesterday. The company currently generates more than $12.9 billion in sales from operations that span more than 40 countries. Shares is Amcor
(ASX:AMC) closed 0.56 per cent higher at $16.23
CurrenciesOne Australian Dollar at 7:40AM was buying 70.02US cents, 53.73Pence Sterling, 78.09 Yen and 62.67 Euro cents.
Commodities Gold has lost $12.50 to US$1272 an ounce.
Silver has lost $0.09 to US$14.63 an ounce.
Oil was down $2.06 to US$61.54 a barrel.
