Air New Zealand lowers guidance on coronavirus impact: ASX poised to open lower
All major US stock indexes slipped late last week as new coronavirus deaths in the US intensified fears of the outbreak dragging on economic activity. The Australian share market looks set to open lower. The US market dipped after seeing a boost in the middle of the week with all major indices seeing a rise The World Health Organisation reports the virus active in 88 countries. Here, an economic stimulus package from the Federal Government is expected later this week. On the commodities front, oil has lost and gold is up.
Markets
Wall Street closed lower on Friday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell almost 1 per cent to close at 25,865, the S&P 500 dropped 1.7 per cent to close at 2972 and the NASDAQ dipped 1.9 per cent to 8576.
European markets closed lower on Friday: London’s FTSE fell 3.6 per cent, Paris shed 4.1 per cent and Frankfurt closed 3.4 per cent lower.
Asian markets closed lower on Friday: Tokyo’s Nikkei dropped 2.7 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 2.3 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite fell 1.2 per cent.
Taking all of this into equation, the SPI futures are pointing to 1.5 per cent fall. On Friday, the Australian share market closed 180 points (2.8 per cent) lower at 6216.
Local economic news
No economic news is expected today. On Tuesday with the regular weekly reading on consumer confidence to be published by ANZ and Roy Morgan. Also on Tuesday, National Australia Bank releases its February business survey.
On Wednesday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) releases the Lending Indicators publication for January. Also on Wednesday, Westpac and the Melbourne Institute release the March monthly reading on consumer confidence while the Reserve Bank Deputy Governor, Guy Debelle, delivers a speech. And on Thursday, the Reserve Bank releases detailed estimates on credit and debit cards lending.
Company news
Due to increased uncertainty surrounding the duration and scale of the coronavirus outbreak, Air New Zealand (ASX:AIZ) has today announced that it will be withdrawing the full year 2020 earnings guidance. The guidance was issued to the market on 24 February 2020 and reconfirmed at its interim results announcement on 27 February 2020. Air New Zealand has taken numerous steps to mitigate the impact of reduced demand resulting from Covid-19, including reducing capacity on its Asia, Tasman and Domestic networks, redeploying its fuel efficient 787 Dreamliner fleet to drive operational efficiencies and using tactical pricing to stimulate demand on the impacted sectors. However, the airline now believes that the financial impact is likely to be more significant than previously estimated. Shares in Air New Zealand (AX:AIZ) 5.24 per cent lower at $1.99 on Friday
Ex-Dividends
Caltex Australia (ASX:CTX) is paying 51 cents full franked
REA Group (ASX:REA) is paying 55 cents full franked
Sims Limited (ASX:SGM) is paying 6 cents full franked
Currencies
One Australian Dollar at 7:40 AM was buying 66.11 US cents, 50.64 Pence Sterling, 68.90 Yen and 58.25 Euro cents.
Commodities
Iron Ore has dropped 2.6 per cent to US$90.19
Iron Ore futures suggest a 2.1 per cent fall.
Gold was up $4.40 to US$1672 an ounce.
Silver has fallen $0.13 cents to US$17.26 an ounce.
Oil has lost $4.62 to US$41.28 a barrel.
Copyright 2020 – Finance News Network
Source: Finance News Network
