Trans-Tasman travel bubble announcement due: ASX poised to open higher
The Australian share market looks set to open higher this morning after the four day long Easter weekend. Before the weekend, the US had promising payroll data for March leading to a rise in both the Dow and the S&P. Now that our daylight savings ended this weekend, Wall Street’s closing bell now rings at 6am for us. Tesla shares jump as much as 7 per cent after first-quarter sales surge. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is expected to announce the start date for a trans-Tasman bubble with Australia.
Local economic news
Today the Reserve Bank Board is holding its April meeting. No change in policy settings is expected. The ANZ will release the job advertisements data today. On Wednesday, the AiGroup releases its March Performance of Construction index. And the weekly reading of consumer sentiment is issued by ANZ and Roy Morgan. On Friday, AiGroup releases its Performance of Services index. And the Reserve Bank releases the six-monthly Financial Stability Review. Focus is on the discussion of lending standards. Also, on Friday the ABS will release data on building approvals for small geographic areas.
Markets
Wall Street closed higher yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.1 per cent to close at 33,527 the S&P 500 added 1.4 per cent to 4078 and the NASDAQ closed 1.7 per cent higher at 13,706.
European markets were closed yesterday.
In Asian markets, Tokyo’s Nikkei gained 0.8 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and China’s Shanghai Composite were closed.
Taking all of this into equation, the SPI futures are pointing to 0.3 per cent gain.
On Thursday, the Australian share market closed 0.6 per cent higher at 6829.
Company news
Sky (ASX:SKT) New Zealand and global entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal have signed an expanded multiyear deal for movies, drama, comedy, entertainment, reality and news across broadcast channels, on demand and streaming. The agreement includes series produced by Sky Studios and Universal Studio Group, which is comprised of Universal Television, UCP, NBCU International Studios and Universal Television Alternative Studios. Movies and linear channel brands E! and CNBC, will also be a part of this deal, increasing Sky’s content offering across its channels and platforms including Neon, Sky Go, Sky On Demand and free-to-air channel Prime. Shares in Sky Network Television (ASX:SKT) closed 3.03 per cent lower at $0.16 on Thursday.
Ex-Dividends
Eildon Capital Group (ASX:EDC) is paying 2 cents unfranked
Monash Absolute Investment Company (ASX:MA1) is paying 13 cents fully franked
Perpetual Equity Investment Company (ASX:PIC) is paying 2.8 cents fully franked
Sigma Health Ltd (ASX:SIG) is paying 1 cent fully franked
Currencies
One Australian Dollar at 8:00 AM was buying 76.53 US cents, 55.02 Pence Sterling, 84.31 Yen and 64.77 Euro cents.
Commodities
Gold has added $0.40 to US$1729 an ounce.
Silver has lost $0.17 to US$24.78 an ounce.
Oil was down $2.80 to US$58.65 a barrel.
Copyright 2021 – Finance News Network
Source: Finance News Network
