Following weak leads from US markets the Australian share market looks set to open flat. US shares fell on Monday with nearly every sector posting losses, as the Turkish economic crisis continued to weigh on markets. The S&P 500 declined for a fourth straight day, its longest losing streak in five months. Financials, energy and materials were among the worst performing sectors. Meantime, shares in Tesla rose by 0.3 per cent after Elon Musk revealed that he was in talks with potential backers to take the car-maker private.
On the commodities front, crude oil slumped on Monday as the US dollar lifted against major currencies, spot gold prices were also down as investors sought refuge in US treasuries. Iron Ore shed around 0.3 per cent.
Local economic news The NAB Business survey, a key measure of business confidence in Australia is due to be released.
MarketsWall Street closed lower on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.5 per cent lower to close at 25,188, the S&P 500 fell 0.4 per cent to close at 2,822 and the NASDAQ lost 0.3 per cent to close at 7820.
European markets closed lower yesterday: London’s FTSE lost 0.3 per cent, Paris was down slightly, 0.04 per cent and Frankfurt closed 0.5 per cent lower.
Asian markets closed lower, Tokyo’s Nikkei fell almost 2 per cent lower, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.5 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite dropped 0.3 per cent.
On the futures markets, the SPI futures are pointing to a 5 points gain. Yesterday, the Australian share market closed lower with the S&P/ASX 200 Index falling 26 points to close at 6252.
Company newsReal Estate Investment Trust ,Charter Hall Long Wale REIT
(ASX:CLW) has announced the completion of the sale of its 50 per cent interest in the ATO building in Adelaide. Charter Hall Long Wale REIT invests in high quality invests in high quality Australasian real estate assets that are predominantly leased to corporate and government tenants on long term leases. Shares in Charter Hall Long Wale Reit
(ASX:CLW) closed 0.24 per cent higher to $4.23 yesterday.
Ex-dividend today:Magellan Fin Grp
(ASX:MFG) is paying 90 cents fully franked
Reckon
(ASX:RKN) is paying 3 cents fully franked
Scentre Grp
(ASX:SCG) is paying 11.08 cents unfranked
Reporting seasonWe can watch out for Challenger
(ASX:CGF), Domino's Pizza Enterprises
(ASX:DMP) and Whitehaven Coal
(ASX:WHC) which are all due to report today.
Currencies One Australian Dollar at 7:40AM was buying US72.75 cents, 57.01 Pence Sterling, 80.57 Yen and 63.79 Euro cents.
Commodities Iron ore futures are pointing to 0.5 per cent rise.
Gold dropped $18.50 to $US1200.50 an ounce.
Silver lost 31 cents at $US14.98 an ounce.
Oil dropped 22 cents to $US66.72 a barrel.
CryptocurrenciesThe three most traded cryptocurrencies are trading lower: Bitcoin has dropped 0.9 per cent to US$6302, Ethereum has fallen almost 10 per cent to US$290 and EOS was down 8.2 per cent to US$4.65.