Disclaimer: All information on this section is of a general nature.
Before making any investment decision, you should consult your adviser.
Market Opener – 05 Apr 2018
Local Markets Commentary
The Australian market commences today’s trade on mostly negative major commodities leads, and following another ultimately positive session for US equities, ahead of key domestic data and as several high-profile stocks trade ex-dividend.
Regionally, markets in China and Hong Kong will remain closed today, due to a public holiday.
In local data releases, February trade figures are due from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS 11.30am AEST.
Pre-trade, AiG will publish its March services sector activity index.
March vehicle sales are also expected today.
In overnight commodities trade, US gold futures pulled back slightly. Oil settled a little lower.
Iron ore (China port, 62% Fe) modestly extended Tuesday’s fall.
LME copper and nickel swung lower, but aluminium turned higher.
The $A rose above US77.20c after falling to ~US76.70c early yesterday evening.
Overseas Market Commentary
Major European and US equities markets opened lower overnight, but ultimately climbed, US indices significantly, towards another rally-like settlement.
Yesterday afternoon (AEST) China had followed up on countermeasure threats, revealing plans to introduce new import taxes for 106 US products including chemicals, soybeans and vehicles.
The US administration however, indicated that this represented a negotiation invitation.
In new data releases, the euro zone’s initial March CPI estimate came in at 1.4% year-on-year growth, following 1.1% for February.
This has likely spawned three weeks’ of stimulus easing speculation, ahead of the European Central Bank’s 26 April policy meeting.
In the US, a private sector employment report calculated 241,000 jobs were added in March, following forecasts of 200,000.
ISM’s services sector activity index pulled back again in March, this time by 0.7 to 58.8, but remaining strong.
February factory orders rose 1.2% for the month, against expectations of a 1.7% improvement.
Mortgage applications were reported to have fallen 3.3% by volume for the week.
Earlier in the UK, the March construction PMI dropped by 4.4 points to a contraction-mode 47.0. This was mostly attributed to severe weather, however.
Tonight in the US, February trade balance, weekly new unemployment claims and a jobs layoff report are due.
In overnight corporate news, equity firm The Carlyle Group announced it would outlay $US772M ($A1B) for Australia’s Accolade Wines.
The Australian market commences today’s trade on mostly negative major commodities leads, and following another ultimately positive session for US equities, ahead of key domestic data and as several high-profile stocks trade ex-dividend.
Regionally, markets in China and Hong Kong will remain closed today, due to a public holiday.
In local data releases, February trade figures are due from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS 11.30am AEST.
Pre-trade, AiG will publish its March services sector activity index.
March vehicle sales are also expected today.
In overnight commodities trade, US gold futures pulled back slightly. Oil settled a little lower.
Iron ore (China port, 62% Fe) modestly extended Tuesday’s fall.
LME copper and nickel swung lower, but aluminium turned higher.
The $A rose above US77.20c after falling to ~US76.70c early yesterday evening.
Overseas Market Commentary
Major European and US equities markets opened lower overnight, but ultimately climbed, US indices significantly, towards another rally-like settlement.
Yesterday afternoon (AEST) China had followed up on countermeasure threats, revealing plans to introduce new import taxes for 106 US products including chemicals, soybeans and vehicles.
The US administration however, indicated that this represented a negotiation invitation.
In new data releases, the euro zone’s initial March CPI estimate came in at 1.4% year-on-year growth, following 1.1% for February.
This has likely spawned three weeks’ of stimulus easing speculation, ahead of the European Central Bank’s 26 April policy meeting.
In the US, a private sector employment report calculated 241,000 jobs were added in March, following forecasts of 200,000.
ISM’s services sector activity index pulled back again in March, this time by 0.7 to 58.8, but remaining strong.
February factory orders rose 1.2% for the month, against expectations of a 1.7% improvement.
Mortgage applications were reported to have fallen 3.3% by volume for the week.
Earlier in the UK, the March construction PMI dropped by 4.4 points to a contraction-mode 47.0. This was mostly attributed to severe weather, however.
Tonight in the US, February trade balance, weekly new unemployment claims and a jobs layoff report are due.
In overnight corporate news, equity firm The Carlyle Group announced it would outlay $US772M ($A1B) for Australia’s Accolade Wines.