90% of Australian businesses set to be impacted by COVID-19: ASX set to open higher
Positive leads from US markets mean we are set to see the Australian share market open higher this morning. All three major benchmarks on Wall Street closed sharply higher yesterday ignoring the US jobless claims surging to more than 3 million in the latest week. Back home, the Australian Bureau of statistics reports that almost half of Australian businesses surveyed say they have experienced an adverse impact as a result of COVID-19. The collection period pre-dated the Australian Government’s announcement of Phase 1 Social Distancing Measures. It said almost 90 per cent of businesses across the country were expected to be impacted in future months. Businesses in Professional, scientific & technical services (21%), Electricity, gas and water supply (34%) and businesses in Mining (37%) were the least likely to have been adversely impacte. Over in Italy their coronavirus death toll from has reached over 8 thousand but the rate of new cases of contagion fell for the fourth day running.
Markets
Wall Street closed higher yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 6.4 per cent to close 22,552, the S&P 500 gained 6.2 per cent to 2630 and the NASDAQ added 5.6 per cent to 7798
European markets closed higher: London’s FTSE gained 2.2 per cent, Paris added 2.5 per cent and Frankfurt closed up 1.3 per cent.
Asian markets closed lower: Tokyo’s Nikkei dropped 4.5 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.74 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite shed 0.6 per cent.
Taking all of this into equation, the SPI futures are pointing to a 3.6 per cent gain.
Yesterday, the Australian share market closed 2.3 per cent higher at 5113.
Company news
Westgold Resources (ASX:WGX) says all of their process plants are operating at full capacity, thanks to the multitude of ore sources Westgold has in the Murchison region. The Company has been proactive with respect to its COVID-19 response, not only adapting our operational procedures in line with official health advice and government directives but also implementing changes in anticipation of further restrictions. This has effectively minimised any current and future disruption to our business. Shares in Westgold Resources (ASX:WGX) closed 3.66 per cent higher at $1.70.
Ex-Dividends
A2B Australia Ltd (ASX:A2B) is paying 4 cents fully franked
Mortgage Choice Ltd (ASX:MOC) is paying 3 cents fully franked
NRW Holdings Limited (ASX:NWH) is paying 2.5 cents fully franked
Currencies
One Australian Dollar at 8:00 AM was buying 60.59 US cents, 49.69 Pence Sterling, 66.45 Yen and 54.94 Euro cents.
Commodities
Iron Ore has fallen 0.7 per cent to $86.77.
Iron Ore futures suggest a 0.7 per cent gain.
Gold has gained $17.90 to US$1652 an ounce.
Silver has dropped $0.26 to US$14.62 an ounce.
Oil was down $1.26 to US$23.23 a barrel.
Copyright 2020 – Finance News Network
Source: Finance News Network
