Wall Street boosts on record e-commerce sales: Aus shares to open lower
The SPI is pointing to a fall at the open, despite positive leads on Friday from the US. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the broader S&P 500 edged to fresh record highs on Friday, however the tech heavy Nasdaq snapped its 11 day winning streak. The US market saw decreased trading volume as a result of the holiday period however it was buoyed by record holiday retail sales. Senior advisor for Mastercard Steve Sadove says “E-commerce sales hit a record high this year with more people doing their holiday shopping online”. Wall Street is set for a strong year end finish on hopes that the US-China phase one trade deal will finalise soon. Data released on Friday showed that Australia’s largest trading partner saw industrial company profits rise 5.4 per cent to 593.9 billion yuan in November – the largest growth in 8 months and an end to the prior 3 months of losses.
Markets
Wall Street closed mixed on Friday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.1 per cent to close at 28,645, the S&P 500 is flat at 3,240 and the NASDAQ lost 0.2 per cent to close at 9,007.
European markets closed higher: London’s FTSE gained 0.2 per cent, Paris gained 0.1 per cent and Frankfurt gained 0.3 per cent.
Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei lost 0.4 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.3 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite is down 0.1 per cent.
Taking all of this into equation, the ASX futures are pointing to a 22 point fall.
On Friday the Australian share market closed higher with the S&P/ASX 200 Index closing 27 points up at 6,822.
Company news
Drug delivery company SUDA Pharmaceuticals (ASX:SUD) has unsuccessfully appealed the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration’s decision to deny marketing approval for its ArTiMist 6 product. ArTiMist 6 is a sublingual spray proposed for the initial treatment of malaria in malaria endemic countries like Ghana, Ethiopia and Kenya. The TGA has released an Australian Public Assessment Report which states that the decision not to register ArTiMist 6 was made “because clinical efficacy and safety of the proposed product have not been adequately established for the proposed indication”. Clinical studies with the proposed product involve only 93 paediatric patients with malaria and provided insufficient data to adequately establish the safety of the product. Shares in SUDA Pharmaceuticals (ASX:SUD) closed 3.1 per cent lower at 6 cents.
Byte Power Group’s (ASX:BPG) wholly owned subsidiary, Byte Power X Singapore Pte Ltd is set to launch a cryptocurrency exchange in Singapore. The Byte Power X Singapore (or BPXS as it will be known) is set to launch on 31 December with 10 cryptocurrencies. The exchange will also have fiat pairings with the Singapore dollar, US dollar and Australian dollar. Byte Power Group’s Chairman and CEO, Alvin Phua says “BPG considers that Singapore has one of the most progressive regulatory environments in the cryptocurrency market” and that he “firmly believe[s] that Singapore’s progressive stance towards blockchain related innovation will lead to significant growth in this sector”. Shares in Byte Power Group (ASX:BPG) last traded at 1 cent.
Currencies
One Australian Dollar at 7:30AM was buying 69.76 US cents, 53.34 Pence Sterling, 76.38 Yen and 62.43 Euro cents.
Commodities
Iron Ore futures suggest a 0.9 per cent rise.
Gold has risen $3.70 to US$1,518 an ounce.
Silver has lost 5 cents to US$17.94 an ounce.
Oil has risen by 4 cents to US$61.72 a barrel.
Copyright 2019 – Finance News Network
Source: Finance News Network
