Wall Street rally continues: ASX poised to open higher

The Australian share market looks set to open higher this morning. US stocks are having a rollercoaster of a week leading up to the Easter weekend. All three majors gained after reports of new coronavirus cases easing and new plans for economic recovery. Last night Tuesday’s losses were erased. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s condition is improving after being hopsitalised for coronavirus. The 76 day lockdown in the Chinese city of Wuhan where coronavirus first emerged has now ended and people can travel to other parts of China. Meanwhile, oil jumped up ahead of an OPEC meeting that is viewed to lead to production cuts. And don’t forget the ASX will be closed tomorrow and on Monday for Easter – trading will resume on Tuesday.

Local economic news

RBA Financial Stability Review at 11.30am AEST

Markerts

Wall Street closed higher yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 3.4 per cent to close 23,434 the S&P 500 added 3.4 per cent to 2750 and the NASDAQ closed up 2.6 per cent to 8091.

European markets closed mixed: London’s FTSE fell 0.5 per cent, Paris added 0.1 per cent and Frankfurt closed down 0.2 per cent.

Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei gained 2.1 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.2 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite closed down 0.2 per cent.

Taking all of this into equation, the SPI futures are pointing to a 1.4 per cent gain.

Yesterday, the Australian share market closed 0.9 per cent lower at 5207

Company news

Auckland International Airport (ASX:AIA) announced today the opening of its NZ$200 million non-underwritten share purchase plan. The SPP is part of Auckland Airport's equity raising announced on 6 April 2020, whereby Auckland Airport also undertook a fully underwritten NZ$1 billion placement of new shares to existing institutional and other select investors in both local and offshore markets. Auckland Airport announced the successful completion of the Placement bookbuild on 7 April 2020, which was strongly supported and fully subscribed at the price determined in the bookbuild of NZ$4.66 per share. Shares in Auckland International Airport (ASX:AIA) closed flat at $5.32 yesterday.

Currencies

One Australian Dollar at 8:00 AM was buying 62.32 US cents, 50.34 Pence Sterling, 67.85 Yen and 57.43 Euro cents.

Commodities

Iron Ore has gained 1.1 per cent to $83.64
Iron Ore futures suggest a 2.9 per cent gain.
Gold has gained $0.60 to US$1684 an ounce.
Silver has fallen $0.28 to US$15.21 an ounce.
Oil was up $1.46 to US$25.09 a barrel.

Source: Finance News Network