Global stocks plunge on virus fears: ASX poised to open lower
Following negative leads from US markets, the Australian share market looks set to open lower this morning. Stocks plunged in the US erasing most of the gains from earlier in the week. Coronavirus continues to spread with US deaths on the rise. European stocks tumbled. UK airline Flybe collapsed yesterday on the back of the coronavirus, with over 2400 jobs going. Subsequently a number of taxi companies started to fold reliant on the airport runs. On the commodities front, oil has dropped and gold has gained.
Local economic news
ABS Retail Trade for January 2020.
Markets
Wall Street closed lower yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 3.6 per cent to close at 26,121, the S&P 500 fell 3.4 per cent to 3024 and the NASDAQ dropped 3 per cent to 8739.
European markets closed lower: London’s FTSE lost 1.6 per cent, Paris fell 1.9 per cent and Frankfurt was down 1.5 per cent.
Asian markets closed higher: Tokyo’s Nikkei was up 1.1 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 2.1 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite gained almost 2 per cent.
Taking all of this into equation, the SPI futures are pointing to a 2.1 per cent fall.
Yesterday, the Australian share market closed 1.1 per cent higher at 6396.
Company news
WCM Global Growth’s (ASX:WQG) portfolio returned -1.79 per cent for the month ended February 2020, compared with the benchmark MSCI All Country World (ex-Australia) . Total Return Index return of -5.04 per cent. The portfolio has outperformed its benchmark during the volatile conditions of the last 3-months. Global equity markets began the month strongly, shrugging off the potential impact of the outbreak of the Coronavirus in China. By month-end however, most global equity indices had declined by over 8 per cent in local currency terms. Shares in WCM Global Growth (ASX:WQG) closed 2. 2 per cent higher at $1.16 yesterday.
Ex-Dividends
Bendigo and Adelaide (ASX:BEN) is paying 31 cents fully franked
Beacon Lighting Group (ASX:BLX) is paying 2.6 cents fully franked
FlexiGroup Limited (ASX:FXL) is paying 3.85 cents fully franked
Healthia Limited (ASX:HLA) is paying 1 cents fully franked
MACA Limited (ASX:MLD) is paying 2.5 cents fully franked
Northern Star (ASX:NST) is paying 7.5 cents fully franked
Ryder Capital Ltd (ASX:RYD) is paying 2 cents fully franked
Shriro Holdings Ltd (ASX:SHM) is paying 3 cents fully franked
Wisetech Global Ltd (ASX:WTC) is paying 1.7 cents fully franked
Currencies
One Australian Dollar at 8:45 AM was buying 66.14 US cents, 51.05 Pence Sterling, 70.19 Yen and 58.84 Euro cents.
Commodities
Iron Ore has gained 1.7 per cent to $92.57.
Iron Ore futures suggest a 2.1 per cent gain.
Gold has gained $27.70 to US$1671 an ounce.
Silver has gained $0.18 to US$17.43 an ounce.
Oil was down $0.80 to US$45.98 a barrel.
Copyright 2020 – Finance News Network
Source: Finance News Network
