Big falls on Wall St overnight are set to reverse a lot of yesterday’s gains on the Australian share market. US tech stocks plunged more than 3 per cent while the yields on US government bonds fell as equities were sold-off.
Global markets
Wall Street closed down yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 267 points to close at 16,170, the S&P 500 lost 39 points to close at 1,833 and the NASDAQ lost 130 points to close at 4,054.
European markets closed mixed: London’s FTSE gained 6 points, Paris lost 29 points and Frankfurt lost 52 points.
Asian markets closed up: Tokyo’s Nikkei added less than half a point, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 344 points, and China’s Shanghai Composite added 29 points.
The Australian share market closed higher yesterday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 17 points up to finish at 5,481. On the futures market the SPI is 51 points down.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 7:20AM was buying $US0.9408 cents, 56.08 Pence Sterling, 95.54 Yen and 67.77 Euro cents.
Economic news due out today ABS: Lending finance for February
Bank of Queensland (ASX:BOQ): First half results
Company news
The cloud accounting systems developer XERO
(ASX:XRO) has appointed Lee Hatton as an independent non-executive director.
Mr Hatton is General Manager, Regulatory Strategy and Affairs at National Australia Bankand an Executive Director at BNZ investment Services. Shares in XERO closed 3.85 per cent higher yesterday to close at $30.74.
Nearmap Limited
(ASX:NEA) has launched a system that maps the solar potential of peoples roofs.
The provider of high resolutions imagery has developed the technology to save solar installation professionals valuable time in measuring and analysing the solar potential of a roof space. Shares in Nearmap closed 2.17 per cent higher yesterday to close at $0.47.
Ex-dividends today
FFI Holdings
(ASX:FFI) paying a 10 cent fully franked dividend
New Hope Corporation (ASX: NHC) paying a 6 cent fully franked dividend
Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co.
(ASX:SOL) paying a 19 cent fully franked dividend
WAM Active Limited
(ASX:WAA) paying a 4.8 cent fully franked dividend
WAM Research Limited
(ASX:WAX) paying a 3.75 cent fully franked dividend
Commodities
Gold is up $14.60 to $US1,320.50 an ounce for the June contract on Comex.
Silver is up $0.32 to $20.09 for May.
Copper is up $0.01 at $3.04 a pound.
Oil is down $0.20 at US$103.40 a barrel for May light crude in New York.
