Infrastructure deal & upbeat data fuel Wall St sentiment: Aus shares to open higher

The Australian sharemarket is set to open higher, on the back of strong Wall Street sentiment boosted by positive economic data and a US government deal. President Joe Biden has reached an agreement with both major US political parties to approve the White House’s $579 billion budget for infrastructure development. The number of applications for unemployment benefits in the US continued to drop last week, further signaling progress in the recovery of the world’s biggest economy. European investors had a strong appetite to upgrade their portfolios, motivated by the Bank of England’s unchanged monetary stance.

To the figures from around the globe

Wall Street closed higher yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained almost 1 per cent to 34,197. The S&P 500 added 0.6 per cent to close at 4266. The Nasdaq closed 0.7 per cent higher at 14,370.

European markets closed higher, London’s FTSE added 0.5 per cent, Paris gained 1.2 per cent and Frankfurt closed 0.9 per cent higher.

In Asian markets, Tokyo’s Nikkei closed flat, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.2 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite closed 0.01 per cent higher.

Taking all of this into equation, the SPI futures are pointing to a 0.8 per cent gain.

Yesterday, the Australian share market closed 0.3 per cent lower at 7275.

Company news

Australia’s largest pizza maker Domino’s (ASX:DMP) has inaugurated 10 new stores in Japan, lifting the number of outlets in the company’s largest pizza chain to 800. The biggest Domino’s licence holder has chosen the Tawaramachi store in Tokyo as the official 800th store for the celebrations. The $10.4 billion company has maintained an inauguration frequency of one store every three days in Japan, which equates to a total of 126 new outlets within the past year. Domino’s Japan has set the goal of reaching 1500 stores within the next twenty years and remains on track to hit that target. Shares in Domino’s (ASX:DMP) closed 2.2 per cent lower at $117.04 yesterday.

Ex – Div:

Fat Prophets Global Property Fund (ASX:FPP) is paying 2.9 cents unfranked
Garda Diversified Property Fund (ASX:GDF) is paying 1.8 cents unfranked

Turning to currencies

One Australian Dollar at 7:30 AM was buying 75.88 US cents, 54.51 Pence Sterling, 84.11 Yen and 63.58 Euro cents.

To Commodities

Iron Ore has lost 1.2 per cent to US$213.46.
Iron Ore futures are pointing to 0.3 per cent fall
Gold has lost $6.70 to US$1777 an ounce.
Silver has fallen $0.06 to US$26.09 an ounce.
Oil was up $0.22 to US$73.30 a barrel.

Source: Finance News Network