Wall Street sees a huge late tech sell-off: ASX set to open lower

The Australian share market looks set to open lower this morning as tech stocks drove the US markets lower. Tesla shares plunged yesterday – their worse one day loss since March. AstraZeneca shares fell over 6 per cent in after-hours trading yesterday after the company said its late-stage trial for a potential coronavirus vaccine had been put on hold due to safety concerns. The Australian dollar dropped as the US dollar strengthened to a four week high.

Local Economic News

Westpac-MI consumer sentiment September, ABS Housing finance July

Markets

Wall Street closed lower yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 2.3 per cent to 27,501 the S&P 500 dropped 2.8 per cent to 3332 and the NASDAQ plunged over 4 per cent at 10,848.

European markets closed lower, London’s FTSE fell 0.1 per cent, Paris lost 1.6 per cent and Frankfurt closed over 1 per cent lower.

Asian markets closed higher, Tokyo’s Nikkei gained 0.8 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.1 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite closed 0.7 per cent higher.

Taking all of this into equation, the SPI futures are pointing to 1.6 per cent fall.

Yesterday, the Australian share market closed 1.1 per cent higher at 6008.

Company news

The a2 Milk Company (ASX:A2M) released their investor presentation this morning due to be presented at the CLSA Investor’s forum. Total revenue of $1.73 billion NZ that’s $1.59 Australian. That’s an increase of 32.8 per cent. EBITDA of $549.7 million $504.58 million AUD, an increase of 32.9 per cent. Net profit after tax of $385.8 million, $354.13 AUD, an increase of 34.1 per cent. China label infant nutrition sales more than doubled to $337.7 million and distribution expanded to 19.1 thousand stores • USA milk revenue growth of 91.2 per cent and distribution expanded to 20.3 thousand stores. Shares in A2M (ASX:A2M) closed 0.18 per cent lower at $16.76 yesterday.

Ex-Dividends

Adairs Limited (ASX:ADH) is paying 11 cents fully franked
Aust Finance Grp (ASX:AFG) is paying 4.7 cents fully franked
Accent Group Ltd (ASX:AX1) is paying 4 cents fully franked
BWX Limited (ASX:BWX) is paying 2.6 cents fully franked
Brambles Limited (ASX:BXB) is paying 12.54 cents 30 per cent franked
Nine Entertainment (ASX:NEC) is paying 2 cents fully franked
Pengana Capital (ASX:PCG) is paying 4 cents fully franked
Rhipe Ltd (ASX:RHP) is paying 2 cents fully franked
Shaver Shop Grp Ltd (ASX:SSG) is paying 2.7 cents fully franked

Currencies

One Australian Dollar at 7:35 AM was buying 72.12 US cents, 55.57 Pence Sterling, 76.42 Yen and 61.26 Euro cents.

Commodities

Iron Ore gained 1 cent to US$129.12.
Iron Ore futures suggest a 0.5 per cent fall.
Gold has added $4.30 to US$1939 an ounce.
Silver was up $0.12 to US$26.84 an ounce.
Oil was down $2.93 to US$36.84 a barrel.

Source: Finance News Network