Martin Luther King Day leaves markets muted: ASX poised to open flat

Market Reports

by Rachael Jones

A US holiday yesterday, Martin Luther King day, saw muted markets leaving the Australian share market poised to open flat. BHP (ASX:BHP) will release its half year operational review later this morning. Stay tuned for those results. On the commodities front, oil has risen despite a sluggish day yesterday due to a lack of volume because of the American holiday. Concerns are on Libya’s oil production and exports as they have almost ground to a halt as the General Khalifa Haftar, the military leader in the country’s east, has ignored international calls to seek a negotiated political settlement to the civil war.

Markets

European markets closed mixed: London’s FTSE lost 0.3 per cent, Paris dipped 0.4 per cent and Frankfurt added 0.2 per cent.

Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei added 0.2 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.9 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite closed 0.7 per cent higher.

Taking all of this into equation, the SPI futures are pointing to a 5-point rise.

Yesterday, the Australian share market closed 0.2 per cent higher at 7080.

Company news 

Primewest (ASX:PWG) has acquired a high profile office building in West Perth and a Woolworths anchored shopping centre in Mandurah – one of Western Australia’s fastest growing regional areas. Primewest Trust paid $33.1 million and $32 million for the Mandurah Greenfields Shopping Centre. The building recently underwent a major $6.5 million refurbishment and is currently 100 per cent leased with a range of quality tenants. Primewest Diversified Income Trust No4 purchased the Mandurah Greenfields Shopping Centre with a Woolworths supermarket and BWS liquor store with strong annual sales growth over the past 12 months at 3.3 per cent pa. Shares in Primewest (ASX:PWG) closed 1.25 per cent higher at $1.22

Currencies

One Australian Dollar at 7:30 AM was buying 68.74 US cents, 52.87 Pence Sterling, 75.73 Yen and 61.98 Euro cents.

Commodities

Iron Ore futures suggest a 0.2 per cent fall.
Gold has added $0.30 to US$1561 an ounce.
Silver has lost $0.01 to US$18.07 an ounce.
Oil has gained $0.12 to US$58.70 a barrel.
 

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