Wall St closes little changed: Aus shares to open flat

The local sharemarket is poised to open flat following a quiet session on Wall Street on Monday. In the US stocks reached fresh records but pared back to close the session little changed. The technology sector posted some of the bigger gains while energy stocks pulled back as crude oil fell. Shares in beauty company Coty climbed 2 per cent after it announced a 51 per cent stake in Kylie Jenners makeup company. Stocks fell flat after a CNBC reporter said that Chinese officials are pessimistic about the prospect of a U.S.-China trade deal. he news triggered a move into traditional safe-haven assets such as bonds and gold. The benchmark 10-year treasury yield fell from around 1.85 per cent earlier in the day to 1.8 per cent.

Local economic news

Today the Reserve Bank issues the minutes for its latest board meeting.

Markets

To the figures from around the globe: Wall Street closed higher yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.1 per cent higher at 28,036, the S&P 500 closed 0.1 per cent higher at 3122 and the NASDAQ rose 0.1 per cent to 8550.

European markets closed mixed: London’s FTSE added 0.1 per cent, Paris fell 0.2 per cent and Frankfurt closed 0.3 per cent lower.

Asian markets closed higher: Tokyo’s Nikkei added 0.5 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.4 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite added 0.6 per cent.

Taking all of this into equation, the SPI futures are pointing to a 0.03 per cent fall.

Yesterday, the Australian share market closed 27 points or 0.4 per cent lower at 6767.

Company news

Synlait (ASX:SM1) and The a2 Milk Company have extended their supply agreement to 2025. The new terms of the agreement also provide for an increase in the volume of nutritional products over which Synlait already has exclusive supply rights and increased committed production capacity from Synlait. Shares in Synlait (ASX:SM1) closed flat at $8.70 yesterday.

Turning to currencies

One Australian Dollar at 8:30 AM was buying 68.09 US cents, 52.58 Pence Sterling, 74.01 Yen and 61.52 Euro cents.

Commodities

Iron Ore is 0.9 per cent higher at US$85.77.
Iron Ore futures suggest a 0.3 per cent fall.
Gold has added $3.00 to US$1472 an ounce.
Silver has gained $0.05 to US$17.00 an ounce.
Oil has dropped $0.82 to US$56.90 a barrel.

Source: Finance News Network