Wall St stages a comeback: ASX to open higher
The Australian share market is set to rise following Wall St closing in the black. After two straight days of declines, the comeback was led by investors buying into shares poised to benefit from the economic recovery. Shrugging off news on the increasing number of global covid-19 cases, cruise line shares increased their knots as they led the charge. Norwegian cruise line closed over 10 per cent boosted by a broker upgrade to a buy from a neutral from Credit Suisse. Carnival closed 6 per cent higher followed by Royal Caribbean Cruises, up over 4 per cent. Supporting the gains were Tesla shares up 3.5 per cent and Microsoft shares adding 0.9 per cent. On a note so positive note, streaming giant company Netflix dropped by over 7 per cent after their subscriber numbers missed expectations with forecast in the second quarter to slow down. Across the Atlantic, European markets closed higher as investors digest numbers from their earnings season. On the commodities front, oil prices fell by more than 2 per cent after the Energy Information Administration reported a surprise lift in crude oil inventory, meanwhile gold rose as treasury yields dipped.
Figures from around the globe
Wall Street closed higher yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.9 per cent to 34,137, the S&P 500 also added 0.9 per cent to 4,173 and the NASDAQ closed 1.2 per cent higher at 13,950.
European markets closed higher, London’s FTSE added 0.5 per cent, Paris gained 0.7 per cent and Frankfurt closed 0.4 per cent higher.
Asian markets closed mostly lower, Tokyo’s Nikkei fell 2 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.8 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite closed flat.
Taking all of this into the equation, the SPI futures are pointing to a 0.5 per cent gain.
Yesterday, the Australian share market closed 0.3 per cent lower at 6,997.
Local economic news
Today the March detailed labour force figures are to be released from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The NAB business survey is also due out today.
Company news
AMP (ASX:AMP) reports their Australian wealth management assets increased by $1.6 billion to $125.7 billion during the first quarter of 2021. The company attributes the results to the improvement in investment markets. Their loan book increased by $200 million to $20.8 billion driven by growth in owner occupied loans. Shares in AMP (ASX:AMP) closed 2.9 per cent lower at $1.17 yesterday.
Ex-Div
Acrow Formwork and Construction Services (ASX:ACF) is paying 0.75 cents fully franked.
Currencies
One Australian Dollar at 7:50 AM was buying 77.53 US cents, 55.67 Pence Sterling, 83.79 Yen and 64.41 Euro cents.
Commodities
Iron Ore has lost 0.7 per cent to US$188.23.
Iron Ore futures are pointing to 0.3 per cent gain.
Gold has added $14.70 to US$1793 an ounce.
Silver had added $0.73 to US$26.57 an ounce.
Oil was down $1.32 to US$61.35 a barrel.
Copyright 2021 – Finance News Network
Source: Finance News Network
