The Australian share market is tipped to open weaker, as investors hold fire ahead of the federal election and the release of key local economic data this week.
US economic news
The expected dip comes after US stocks retreated in Friday’s trading session, extending the biggest monthly slide in more than a year, as consumer spending and income data rose less than expected. Meantime, personal income rose 0.1 per cent, the slowest advance since April.
Adding to the negative sentiment, geopolitical tensions continued as the US prepared for a unilateral military strike to punish the regime of Bashar al-Assad for the alleged use of chemical weapons against civilians last week. But President Barack Obama says any attack will be on a smaller scale than the 2011 military operation in Libya.
China economic news
But there was a glimmer of hope coming from China over the weekend, with new data showing the country’s manufacturing activity strengthened in August to its highest level in 16 months.
Currencies
That helped the Australian dollar rally in early trade this morning, but it wasn’t enough to recover the losses over concerns about a potential attack on Syria. At 7.20AM the Aussie was buying $US89.41 cents, 57.62 Pence Sterling, 87.99 Yen and 67.7 Euro cents.
Figures
Wall Street extended its losses in the Friday session US time: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 31 points to close at 14,810, the S&P500 dropped 5 points to close at 1,633 and the Nasdaq fell 30 points to close at 3,590.
European markets slipped on news the number of unemployed people in the euro zone declined slightly in July, but not enough to lower the unemployment rate from a record-high 12.1 per cent: London’s FTSE lost 70 points, Paris shed 53 points and Frankfurt dropped 91 points.
Asian markets were mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei lost 71, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 27 points, and China’s Shanghai Composite lifted by 1 point.
The Australian share market ended the last trading day of August higher, gaining 1.6 per cent over the month. The S&P/ASX 200 index gained 43 points on Friday, extending the weekly gain of 80 points to finish at 5,135. On the futures market the SPI is 18 points down.
Economic news
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) will release its business indicators for the June quarter as well as building approvals for July.
The Australian Industry Groupn will put out its performance of manufacturing index for August.
TD Securities and the Melbourne Institute will release their inflation gauge for August.
NAB will publish its quarterly Online Retail Sales Index and the RBA will release its index of commodity prices for August.
Commodities
Gold is down $22.20 to $US1,396 an ounce for the December contract on Comex. Silver is down $0.63 to $23.51 for December. Copper is down $0.03 at $3.23 a pound. Oil futures have fallen after the White House signalled that a potential military strike against Syria would be limited in scope, alleviating concerns over possible crude supply disruptions in the Middle East Oil is down $1.15 at US$107.65 a barrel for October light crude in New York.
Ex-dividends
Betashares Australian High Interest Cash ETF(ASX:AAA
Atlas Iron Limited(ASX:AGO
Medical Developments International Ltd
(ASX:MVP)
