Upbeat data fails to spur US investor appetite: Aus shares poised for steady start
The Australian sharemarket is poised to marginally rise at the open, in defiance of weak signals from Wall Street, as coking coal and iron ore experienced rebounds in prices and exchange rates tumbled. The US reported a better-than-forecast surge in private-sector employment of 978,000 jobs, as the number of first-time claims for unemployment benefits reset pandemic lows to fall below the 400,000 mark for the first time in fourteen months. Optimistic data indicating a continued recovery was not enough to spur stateside investor appetite, as US benchmarks retreated. Asia-Pacific markets saw a mixed bag of performances, as mainland Chinese stocks contradicted Aussie stocks and slumped, on the back of data reflecting slowing services activity growth.
To the figures from around the globe
Wall Street closed lower yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.1 per cent to 34,577. The S&P 500 fell 0.4 per cent to close at 4193. The Nasdaq closed over 1 per cent lower at 13,615.
European markets closed mixed, London’s FTSE lost 0.6 per cent, Paris fell 0.2 per cent and Frankfurt closed 0.2 per cent higher.
Asian markets closed mixed, Tokyo’s Nikkei gained 0.4 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.1 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite closed 0.4 per cent lower.
Taking all of this into equation, the SPI futures are pointing to a 0.03 per cent gain.
Yesterday, the Australian share market closed 0.6 per cent higher at 7260.
Company news
Medical imaging expert Pro-Medicus has secured a multi-year partnership deal with non-profit US academic medical centre Mayo Clinic. The agreement will witness Pro-Medicus’ wholly-owned US subsidiary Visage Imaging teaming up with Mayo Clinic to enhance the company’s artificial intelligence accelerator technology. The platform equips researchers with means of data de-identification, collection, curation and analysis and can manifest a ‘path-to-production’. The collaboration has the potential to deliver on “well defined clinical goals and ultimately lead to better patient outcomes”. The two parties intend to gear up the AI accelerator platform for commercialisation in the future. Shares in Pro Medicus (ASX:PME) closed 3.2 per cent higher at $47.61
Turning to currencies
One Australian Dollar at 7:40 AM was buying 76.64 US cents, 54.36 Pence Sterling, 84.53 Yen and 63.16 Euro cents.
To Commodities
Iron Ore has gained 0.9 per cent to US$210.99.
Iron Ore futures are pointing to 2.6 per cent fall.
Gold has lost $36.60 to US$1873 an ounce.
Silver has fallen $0.73 to US$27.48 an ounce.
Oil was down $0.02 to US$68.81 a barrel.
Copyright 2021 – Finance News Network
Source: Finance News Network
