AUD hits a 28-month high: ASX poised to open lower

 

The Australian share market looks set to open lower despite the NASDAQ hitting an all time high. The iron ore price continues to rise. The US Trump Administration is set to approve a controversial land swap later this month that would give Rio Tinto and partners more than 2,400 acres to build an Arizona copper mine. Meanwhile, the US has added one million new coronavirus cases to its total in just five days. Now 14.6 million people have the virus in the US. The Australian dollar is trading over US74 cents, after hitting a high of US74.53 cents overnight, a level not seen since August 2018. And China’s exports in November rose 21.1 per cent year on year, the fastest growth since February 2018.

Economic News

Weekly indicators are issued, including Commonwealth Bank data on card spending and the ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer sentiment index.
Also today: the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) publishes home prices data for the September quarter.

Markets

Wall Street closed mixed yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.5 per cent to 30070, the S&P 500 shed almost 0.2 per cent to 3692 and the NASDAQ closed 0.5 per cent higher at 12520.

European markets closed mixed, London’s FTSE gained 0.1 per cent, Paris shed 0.6 per cent and Frankfurt closed 0.2 per cent lower.

Asian markets closed lower, Tokyo’s Nikkei lost 0.8 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dipped 1.2 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite closed 0.8 per cent lower.

Taking all of this into equation, the SPI futures are pointing to a 0.3 per cent fall.

Yesterday, the Australian share market closed 0.6 per cent higher at 6675.

Company news

Air New Zealand (ASX:AIZ) has promoted Nikki Dines as its next Chief People Officer with effect from 1 February 2021. She has been with Air New Zealand since 2013 and has held a variety of roles within the People, Airports, and Pilots teams. This includes leading Air New Zealand’s Pilot group as General Manager Pilots and her more recent role of General Manager People – Corporate, Revenue & Employee Experience. Shares in Air New Zealand (ASX:AIZ) closed 0.6 per cent higher at $1.81

Currencies

One Australian Dollar at 8:00 AM was buying 74.18 US cents, 55.45 Pence Sterling, 77.18 Yen and 61.26 Euro cents.

Commodities

Gold has gained $26.80 to US$1862 an ounce.
Silver was up $0.40 to US$24.61 an ounce.
Oil was down $0.13 to US$45.50 a barrel.
Iron Ore futures suggest a 1.3 per cent rise.
 
Copyright 2020 – Finance News Network

Source: Finance News Network