Trump signals delay in China trade deal: ASX poised to open lower

Market Reports

by Rachael Jones

Following negative leads from US markets, the Australian share market looks set to drop at the open. The Dow fell for a third day and the rest of the US markets were rattled when US President Donald Trump suggested he may want to delay a trade deal with China until after the 2020 presidential election. Earlier this week Trump tweeted that the US would impose tariffs on steel and aluminium from Brazil and Argentina. Meanwhile, France’s government has said the European Union would retaliate if the US follows through on a threat to hit about $2.4 billion of French products with tariffs over a dispute concerning how large tech companies are taxed.

Markets

Wall Street closed lower yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed over 1 per cent lower at 27,503, the S&P 500 dropped 0.7 per cent to 3093 and the NASDAQ fell 0.6 per cent to 8521.

European markets closed mixed: London’s FTSE lost 1.8 per cent, Paris dropped over 1 per cent and Frankfurt added 0.2 per cent.

Asian markets closed also mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei fell 0.6 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 0.2 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite closed 0.3 per cent higher.

Taking all of this into equation, the SPI futures are pointing to a 0.9 per cent fall.

Yesterday, the Australian share market closed 150 points or 2.2 per cent lower at 6712

Local economic news 

AiG performance of services November

Company news

iCar Asia (ASX:ICQ) reached EBITBA breakeven in November, one month ahead of earlier guidance. The was due to consistent positive EBITDA margin growth in Malaysia and Thailand, continued growth in revenue in Indonesia, reducing that market’s EBITDA losses and cost management of Group level costs. This result was also achieved despite the transaction costs and initial costs of integration associated post the completion of the Carmudi acquisition on 12 November 2019. Revenue currently expected to grow by 50 per cent or more in 2020 on a year to year basis. Shares in iCar Asia (ASX:ICQ) closed 3.57 per cent lower at $0.27 yesterday.

Currencies

One Australian Dollar at 8:35 AM was buying 68.46 US cents, 52.68 Pence Sterling, 74.37 Yen and 61.79 Euro cents.

Commodities

Iron Ore has dropped 0.2 per cent to US$88.31.
Iron Ore futures suggest a 0.8 per cent rise.
Gold has gained $14.00 to US$1483 an ounce.
Silver has added $0.29 to US$17.26 an ounce.
Oil has gained $0.26 to US$56.22 a barrel.
 

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