Good morning Fellow Traders. Let's see what a new month brings.
The Australian share market has closed higher, led by mining and energy stocks, as investors took confidence from offshore markets ahead of the start of the local reporting season.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index finished up 0.31 per cent at 5,720.6 points.
ASR Wealth Advisers client adviser Gary Huxtable said resources stocks had a solid session, and there was broad-based buying across the board.
"It appears to be somewhat globally driven," Mr Huxtable said.
"If you have a look at markets across Asia, they're performing well apart from Japan, and US futures are up as well."
Mr Huxtable said, however, that trading had drifted lower late in the afternoon, which suggested that investors were cautious about holding onto gains.
Investors are waiting for the release of the company earnings season, which starts on Tuesday with Seven West Media's full-year results but gains momentum from mid-August.
Mr Huxtable said manufacturing data out of China on Monday had little impact on the Australian market.
China's official manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index for the month of July came in at 51.4 points -- just shy of expectations of 51.6 points but above the 50 point mark indicating expansion.
Energy stocks lifted as oil prices rose to an eight-week high, after a bigger-than-expected dip in US output tightened the market, and the threat of sanctions against oil-producing Venezuela re-emerged.
Origin Energy added six cents, or 0.9 per cent, to $6.92 as it reported a 40 per cent lift in full-year production and more than doubled revenue,
Woodside Petroleum gained 1.1 per cent to $29.17, and Santos improved 0.6 per cent to $3.39.
Among the major miners, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals all advanced in the wake of a firmer iron ore price.
The major banks - ANZ, Westpac, National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank - were softer, losing between 0.04 per cent and 0.2 per cent.
Hearing implant firm Cochlear eased $2.32, or 1.6 per cent, to $142.85 as the company announced its chief executive, Chris Smith, will retire in January and hand over the reins to chief operating officer Dig Howitt.
Wind farm operator Infigen Energy was up two per cent to 77 cents after announcing that the record low wind generation suffered in its fourth quarter - flagged in June - had pushed down quarterly revenue by 36 per cent.
Biotech Sirtex Medical nudged up one cent to $16.09.
Sirtex is facing two possible shareholder class actions over allegations that the company engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct in relation to missed sales forecasts for 2016/17 that sparked a share price plunge.
Meanwhile, the Australian dollar looks comfortable at near-two-year highs against its US counterpart.
The Australian dollar was trading at 79.84 US cents at 1630 AEST on Monday, up slightly from 79.80 US cents on Friday.
ON THE ASX:
* The benchmark S&P/ASX200 closed up 17.8 points, or 0.31 per cent, at 5,720.6 points
* The broader All Ordinaries index finished up 18.7 points, or 0.32 per cent, at 5,773.9 points.
* The September SPI200 futures contract was up 25 points, or 0.44 per cent, at 5,659 points.
* National turnover was 2.7 billion securities traded worth $5.2 billion.
CURRENCY SNAPSHOT AT 1700 AEST
One Australian dollar buys:
* 79.80 US cents, from 79.80 on Friday
* 88.30 Japanese yen, from 88.55 yen
* 68.01 euro cents, from 68.19 euro cents
* 60.88 British pence, from 60.98 pence
* 106.37 NZ cents, from 106.27 cents
The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a record closing high on Monday, helped by Boeing, while selling in Facebook, Alphabet and other technology companies checked the S&P 500 and pulled the Nasdaq lower.
The S&P 500 information technology .SPLRCT dipped 0.53 percent, with Facebook (FB.O) falling 1.86 percent and Alphabet (GOOGL.O), Google's parent company, down 1.34 percent.
"The bull market is sort of broadening out and people are taking a few profits off the table on some of these stocks that have done exceedingly well," said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives for Charles Schwab in Austin, Texas.
Boeing (BA.N) rose 0.49 percent and hit a record high of $242.46 after JPMorgan raised its price target on the world's biggest plane maker to $280 per share.
The market reacted little to news that U.S. President Donald Trump's communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, was leaving the job after little over a week, the latest staff upheaval to hit the Republican's six-month-old presidency.
In July, the S&P 500 rose 1.9 percent, the Dow added 2.5 percent and the Nasdaq gained 3.4 percent.
Apple Inc (AAPL.O), which is expected to report quarterly results after the market close on Tuesday, dipped 0.51 percent.
Investors have been counting on earnings to support high valuations for equities.
S&P 500 earnings are expected on average to have grown 10.8 percent in the second quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
"The market in the last week has become jittery," said Dennis Dick, head of markets structure, proprietary trader at Bright Trading LLC in Las Vegas. "Money managers are looking to take profits and for any excuse to do so."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 0.28 percent to end at 21,891.12 points and the S&P 500 .SPX lost 0.07 percent to 2,470.3. The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 0.42 percent to 6,348.12.
Just four of the 11 major S&P sectors rose, with the financial index's .SPSY 0.62 percent rise leading the gainers.
Tesla (TSLA.O) dropped 3.46 percent after Chief Executive Elon Musk warned that the electric carmaker would face "manufacturing hell" as it ramps up production of its new mass-market Model 3 sedan.
Snap (SNAP.N) fell 1.01 percent as some investors were allowed for the first time to sell shares following the Snapchat owner's March initial public offer.
Source: Netwealth Business Morning Roundup
Breakfast is taking you back to your childhood. Beans on toast and hot Milo. It's "World Respect Your Parents Day". If you're lucky enough to still have them with you, give them a quick call or send them a message before you start trading this morning.
