Healthcare services lead decline on Wall St: ASX poised to open lower

Following mixed leads from US markets, the Australian share market looks set to open lower this morning. Health-care shares led declines on Monday in the US and analysts expect technology stocks to lead the market higher on Wall Street. The S&P 500 rose above some August highs last week signalling positive momentum despite closing everso slightly lower yesterday.

Local economic news

NAB business survey – conditions and confidence

Markets

Wall Street closed mixed yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.1 per cent to close at 26,836, the S&P 500 closed 0.01 per cent lower at 2978 and the NASDAQ fell 0.2 per cent to 8087.

European markets closed mixed: London’s FTSE lost 0.6 per cent, Paris fell 0.3 per cent and Frankfurt added 0.3 per cent.

Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei added 0.6 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.04 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.8 per cent.

Taking all of this into equation, the SPI futures are pointing to a 0.14 per cent fall.

Yesterday, the Australian share market closed 1 point or 0.01 per cent higher at 6648.

Company news

Vocus Group (ASX:VOC) Company Secretary Ashe-lee Jegathesan has resigned to start a position as COO with Uniti Group. The current Deputy General Counsel, Simon Lewin will be appointed to the role of Company Secretary with effect from 25 September 2019. She stepped into the role of General Counsel & Company Secretary following the Vocus-M2 merger in February 2016. Vocus Group (ASX:VOC) is Australia’s specialist fibre and network solutions provider. Shares in Vocus Group (ASX:VOC) closed 2.72 per cent higher at $3.40 yesterday.

Ex – Dividend

Adairs Limited (ASX:ADH) is paying 8 cents fully franked
Amcor PLC (ASX:AMC) is paying 17.725 cents unfranked
Blue Sky Alternatives Access Fund Ltd (ASX:BAF) is paying 4 cents 65 per cent franked
CSL Limited (ASX:CSL) is paying 147.8415 cents unfranked
FSA Group Limited (ASX:FSA) is paying 3 cents fully franked
Grange Resources Limited (ASX:GRR) is paying 1 cent fully franked
News Corp (ASX:NWS) is paying 10.3321 cents unfranked
RedHill Education Ltd (ASX:RDH) is paying 2 cents fully franked
Reliance Worldwide Corporation Ltd (ASX:RWC) is paying 5 cents fully franked
Sonic Healthcare (ASX:SHL) is paying 51 cents 30 per cent franked
SRG Global Ltd (ASX:SRG) is paying 0.5 cents fully franked
Tassal Group Limited (ASX:TGR) is paying 9 cents 25 per cent franked

Currencies

One Australian Dollar at 7:40AM was buying 68.66US cents, 55.61Pence Sterling, 73.64 Yen and 62.16 Euro cents.

Commodities

Iron Ore futures suggest a 2.83 per cent gain
Gold has dropped $8.40 to US$1507 an ounce.
Silver has lost $0.02 cents to US$18.09 an ounce.
Oil has gained $1.53 to US$58.05 a barrel.

Source: Finance News Network