Covid plasma treatment news boosts Wall St: ASX poised to open higher
The Australian share market looks set to open higher this morning as the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq reached new record closing highs as optimism lifted over potential medical advances against Covid-19. The US FDA has authorised the use of blood plasma from recovered Covid-19 patients as a treatment. Meanwhile, shopper numbers across all UK retail destinations rose by 4.1 per cent last week as restrictions were eased. The oil price lifted as two separate back to back storms in the US Gulf Coast are set to cause large temporary shutdowns to oil and gas production facilities.
Local Economic News
International Merchandise Trade, Preliminary, July 2020.
Weekly Payroll Jobs and Wages Week ending 8 August 2020.
Markets
Wall Street closed higher yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 1.35 per cent higher at 28,309, the S&P 500 gained 1 per cent to 3431 and the NASDAQ added 0.6 per cent to 11380.
European markets closed higher: London’s FTSE gained 1.7 per cent, Paris rose 2.3 per cent and Frankfurt was also up 2.4 per cent.
Asian markets closed higher: Tokyo’s Nikkei rose 0.3 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 1.7 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite was up 0.2 per cent.
Taking all of this into equation, the SPI futures are pointing to a 62- point gain
Yesterday, the Australian share market closed 0.3 per cent higher at 6130.
Company news
Safety solutions provider Ansell (ASX:ANN) report sales of $1.61 billion US, that’s 7.7 per cent growth. They saw strong performance entering F’20 H2 further accelerated by Covid-19 related demand, particularly for Exam/Single Use products. Industrial organic growth of 1.3 per cent, which was a modest growth despite severely impacted macro backdrop. Increased demand for Chemical Protective Clothing and Gloves more than offset softness in Mechanical EBIT of $219.7 million US, up 8.3 per cent. Profit Attributable of $158.7 million US, up 5.2 per cent YoY. Earnings per share of US121.8 ¢ents, up 9.2 per cent. Shares in Ansell (ASX:ANN) closed 1.9 per cent higher at $40.30 yesterday.
Ex-dividends
Coca-Cola Amatil (ASX:CCL) is paying 9 cents unfranked
Domino’s Pizza Enterprises (ASX:DMP) is paying 52 cents fully franked
IPH Limited (ASX:IPH) is paying 15 cents fully franked
InvoCare (ASX:IVC) is paying 5.5 cents fully franked
Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) is paying 77 cents fully franked
Netwealth Group (ASX:NWL) is paying 7.8 cents fully franked
Reckon (ASX:RKN) is paying 3 cents fully franked
Santos (ASX:STO) ispaying 2.897 cents fully franked
Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) is paying 77 cents fully franked
Currencies
One Australian Dollar at 7:00 AM was buying 71.63 US cents, 54.84 Pence Sterling, 75.91 Yen and 60.77 Euro cents.
Commodities
Iron Ore futures are down 1.6 per cent.
Gold has lost $11.10 to US$1936 an ounce.
Silver has shed $0.07 to US$26.66 an ounce.
Oil has gained $0.12 to US$43.05 a barrel.
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Copyright 2020 – Finance News Network
Source: Finance News Network
