ASX to defy lackustre Wall St: Aus shares to open higher

The Australian sharemarket is poised to bounce back from yesterday’s lows, in contrast with Wall Street’s lacklustre signals.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average extended its losses for a second day, in response to the Federal Reserve’s decision to push ahead its tightening monetary strategy in anticipation of rising inflation. The tech-heavy Nasdaq bucked the underperformance trend of other US benchmarks, as tech stocks such as Tesla gained momentum.

The Fed’s hint at two interest rate hikes by 2023 mildly spooked investors in Europe, as the pan-European Stoxx 600 shed 0.1 per cent.

There was a mixed tone in the Asian markets, as mainland Chinese and Hong Kong stocks all edged higher and defied pessimistic sentiment among Japanese and South Korean investors.

To the figures from around the globe: Wall Street closed mixed yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.6 per cent to 33,823. The S&P 500 fell 0.04 per cent to close at 4222. The Nasdaq closed 0.9 per cent higher at 14,161.

European markets closed mixed, London’s FTSE lost 0.4 per cent, Paris added 0.2 per cent and Frankfurt closed 0.1 per cent higher.

Asian markets closed mixed, Tokyo’s Nikkei lost 0.9 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.4 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite closed 0.2 per cent higher.

Taking all of this into equation, the SPI futures are pointing to a 0.5 per cent gain.

Yesterday, the Australian share market closed 0.4 per cent lower at 7359.

Company news

Australia’s second largest mining corporation Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) has made interim CFO Peter Cunningham’s position permanent.

Rio Tinto said that Mr Cunningham’s 28 years of experience with the company and extensive knowledge about the industry have justified his appointment. His renumeration package is worth $1.3 million.

The $46.7 billion company’s newly appointed chief financial officer has also been offered a seat on the board as an executive director. The move is intended to replenish a battered board, in the wake of executive-level departures following an indigenous site destruction scandal.

Shares in Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) closed 1.18 per cent lower at $124.23 yesterday.

Turning to currencies

One Australian Dollar at 7:50 AM was buying 75.58 US cents, 54.29 Pence Sterling, 83.33 Yen and 63.45 Euro cents.

To Commodities

Iron Ore futures are pointing to 3.44 per cent gain.
Gold has dropped $86.60 to US$1775 an ounce.
Silver has fallen $1.96 to US$25.86 an ounce.
Oil was down $1.11 to US$71.04 a barrel.

Source: Finance News Network