All eyes on Federal Reserve policy meeting later: ASX poised to open higher

Following positive leads from US markets, the Australian share market looks set to open higher this morning. There is a US Federal Reserve policy meeting later. The Trump administration has said that it will remove a 10 per cent US tariff on raw Canadian aluminium imports as long as volumes “normalise” over the coming months. Meanwhile, the World Trade Organization says that additional tariffs imposed in 2018 by the United States on Chinese goods violated international trading rules. And BHP has frozen its executive salaries for the coming year and in-line with “the global context” according to the miners annual report released yesterday.

Markets

Wall Street closed mostly higher yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed flat at 27,996 the S&P 500 added 0.5 per cent to 3401 and the NASDAQ closed 1.2 per cent higher at 11,190.

European markets closed higher, London’s FTSE gained 1.3 per cent, Paris gained 0.3 per cent and Frankfurt closed 0.2 per cent higher.

Asian markets closed mixed, Tokyo’s Nikkei fell 0.4 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.4 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite closed 0.5 per cent higher.

Taking all of this into equation, the SPI futures are pointing to 0.8 per cent gain.

Yesterday, the Australian share market closed 0.1 per cent lower at 5895.

Company news

Auckland Airport (ASX:AIA) reports total passenger volumes decreased by 70.8 per cent in July 2020 versus last year. International passengers (excl. Transits) were down 96.9 per cent, transit passengers were down 94.7 per cent and domestic passengers were down by 39.2 per cent. The decline in total passengers for July 2020 reflects the impact of the travel restrictions imposed by the New Zealand Government in response to Covid-19. The closure of the New Zealand border from 20 March 2020 to all but New Zealand citizens and permanent residents has had a significant impact on international services. Shares in Auckland International Airport (ASX:AIA) closed 0.31 per cent higher at $6.53 yesterday.

Ex-Dividends

Costa Group Holdings (ASX:CGC) is paying 4 cents fully franked
Supply Network (ASX:SNL) is paying 9 cents fully franked

Currencies

One Australian Dollar at 7:40 AM was buying 73.07 US cents, 56.69 Pence Sterling, 77.03 Yen and 61.67 Euro cents.

Commodities

Iron Ore lost 1.3 per cent to US$128.52.
Iron Ore futures suggest a 1.7 per cent fall.
Gold has lost $1.80 to US$1962 an ounce.
Silver was down $0.01 to US$27.35 an ounce.
Oil was up $1.13 to US$38.39 a barrel.

Source: Finance News Network