Wall St finishes slightly higher following trade deal talks: Aus shares to open higher

The Australian sharemarket is set to start the week higher following positive leads from overseas markets. In the US stocks closed ever so slightly higher after China and the US agreed to a phase one trade deal. The deal will include a rollback of some of the China tariffs and halts additional levies which were set to take effect yesterday. Apple was the best performer on Friday, rising 1.4 per cent to a record after news of the trade agreement was announced. Stocks also moved higher after exit polls showed the U.K.’s Conservative party winning a big majority in Parliament, giving Prime Minister Boris Johnson a clear path to move forward with his Brexit plans.

Markets

To the figures from around the globe: Wall Street closed higher on Friday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.01 per cent to close at 28,135, the S&P 500 added 0.01 per cent to close at 3169 and the NASDAQ rose 0.2 per cent to 8735.

European markets closed higher on Friday: London’s FTSE added 1.1 per cent, Paris gained 0.6 per cent and Frankfurt closed 0.5 per cent higher.

Asian markets closed also higher on Friday: Tokyo’s Nikkei gained 2.6 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 2.6 per cent higher and China’s Shanghai Composite rose 1.8 per cent.

Taking all of this into equation, the SPI futures are pointing to 0.6 per cent gain. On Friday, the Australian share market closed 31 points (0.5 per cent) higher at 6740.

Local economic news

Monday

The Federal Government hands down its Mid-Year budget update.

CBA/IHS Markit

Flash’ purchasing manager indexes for December.

Tuesday

The Reserve Bank also issues the minutes of its December 3 policy meeting.

Thursday

ABS releases the June quarter population estimates together with the November labour market data.

Company news

Retailer Adairs (ASX:ADH) has completed its acquisition of Mocka. Earlier this month Adairs announced that it had entered into a binding agreement to acquire all of the shares of Mocka for NZ$80m (A$75.5m). Shares in Adairs (ASX:ADH) closed flat at $2.35 on Friday.

Ex-Dividends

Bellamy's Australia (ASX:BAL) is paying 60 cents fully franked
Plato Inc Max Ltd (ASX:PL8) is paying 0.5 cents fully franked

Currencies

One Australian Dollar at 7:45 AM was buying 68.88 US cents, 51.67 Pence Sterling, 75.33 Yen and 61.90 Euro cents.

Commodities

Iron Ore has added 0.6 per cent to US$94.63.
Iron Ore futures suggest a 1.1 per cent gain.
Gold was up $8.90 to US$1481 an ounce.
Silver added 6 cents to US$17.01 an ounce.
Oil has gained $0.89 to US$60.07 a barrel.

Source: Finance News Network