Following mixed leads from US markets, the Australian share market looks set to open higher. US stocks braced for Central Bank news this week and faltered on concerns regarding the US-China trade war. Yesterday top US trade officials met with their Chinese counterparts to attempt to iron out a deal. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump yesterday turned his attention to India. He tweeted that India's trade tariffs on American products is no longer acceptable.
On the commodities front, oil has added and gold has fallen slightly.
Local economic news We can expect to see Building Activity for March 2019 later today from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Markets Wall Street closed mixed yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.1 per cent to 26,783, the S&P 500 added 0.1 per cent to close at 2980 and the NASDAQ gained 0.5 per cent to 8142.
European markets closed lower: London’s FTSE fell 0.2 per cent, Paris lost 0.3 per cent and Frankfurt was down 0.9 per cent.
Asian markets closed mixed, Tokyo’s Nikkei added 0.1 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.8 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite dropped 0.2 per cent.
Taking all of this into equation, the SPI futures are up 36 points. Yesterday, the Australian share market closed 7 points or 0.1 per cent lower at 6666.
Company newsRetail Food Group
(ASX:RFG) made a statement referring to articles published in the Fairfax press yesterday about an indicative non-binding proposal from Soliton Capital Partners. The investment fund associated with SSG Capital Management, has offered to provide approximately $160 million to recapitalise the Company. Retail Food Group say discussions in relation to this proposal are advanced. As indicated in its 1H19 Results, RFG has also been exploring options for potential divestment of its noncore assets. They say there is no guarantee that any formal agreement will be reached. Shares in Retail Food Group
(ASX:RFG) closed 2.27 per cent lower at $0.22.
CurrenciesOne Australian Dollar at 7:40AM was buying 69.29US cents, 55.64 Pence Sterling, 75.43 Yen and 61.84 Euro cents.
Commodities Iron Ore futures suggest a 1.3 per cent fall.
Gold has fallen $0.40 to US$1400 an ounce.
Silver was up $0.08 to US$15.13 an ounce.
Oil added $0.62 to US$58.13 a barrel.
