Good Morning Fellow Traders, The Australian share market had a...

Good Morning Fellow Traders,

The Australian share market had a steady session despite Telstra shares falling to a five year low.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 0.01 per cent at 5,669.7 points.

Some calm returned to markets following the firing of a missile by North Korea over Japan earlier this week, and Wall Street in the US rose, but Telstra's fall weighed on the local market.

CMC Markets chief market analyst Ric Spooner said markets in Asia were feeling a little less nervous given the muted response so far from the United States to North Korea's latest action.

But company news negatively affected the Australian market.
"In particular, Telstra and other stocks went ex-dividend today" Mr Spooner said.
"Secondly, we had some generally negative news that NBNco won't agree to Telstra's plan to monetise its NBN income."
Telstra shares dropped 24 cents, or 6.3 per cent, to $3.60, their lowest value since June 2012.
Telstra is trading ex-dividend, meaning new buyers of the stock will not receive the telco's latest dividend, which is the last before it reduces its shareholder payouts.
It also said the company rolling out the national broadband network will not support Telstra's plan to monetise the income that the telco gets from NBN compensation and access payments.

The major banks were mostly lower, with Commonwealth Bank off 0.5 per cent at $75.37, ANZ down 0.2 per cent at $29.06, National Australia Bank down 0.1 per cent at $30.06, while Westpac gained 0.1 per cent to $31.16.

Ramsay Health Care retreated $3.78, or 5.3 per cent, to $68.10 after the private hospitals operator reported full-year net profit growth of nine per cent but missed market expectations.
Building materials supplier Boral fell 20 cents, or 2.9 per cent, to $6.63 despite boosting its annual profit by 16 per cent to $297 million.

Among the miners, BHP Billiton picked up 0.3 per cent to $26.95, Rio Tinto added 0.1 per cent to $66.70, and Fortescue Metals eased 1.8 per cent to $5.87.

The Australian dollar was boosted by better-than-expected housing and construction data, trading at 79.67 US cents at 1630 AEST, up from 79.40 US cents on Tuesday.

ON THE ASX:
* The benchmark S&P/ASX200 was up 0.7 points, or 0.01 per cent, at 5,669.7 points at 1630 AEST.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was up 0.2 points at 5,733.8 points.
* The September SPI200 futures contract was up 17 points, or 0.3 per cent, at 5,649 points.
* National turnover was 2.8 billion securities traded worth $5.9 billion.

CURRENCY SNAPSHOT AT 1700 AEST:
One Australian dollar buys:
* 79.66 US cents, from 79.40 US cents on Tuesday
* 87.68 Japanese yen, from 86.33 yen
* 66.63 euro cents, from 66.06 euro cents
* 61.70 British pence, from 61.27 pence
* 109.86 NZ cents, from 109.63 NZ cents

GOLD:
The spot price of gold in Sydney at 1700 AEST was $US1,307.68 per fine ounce, down from $US1,321.40 per fine ounce on Tuesday.

BOND SNAPSHOT AT 1630 AEST:
* CGS 4.50 per cent April 2020, 1.9365pct, from 1.9003pct
* CGS 4.75pct April 2027, 2.6281pct, from 2.574pct
Sydney Futures Exchange prices:
* September 2017 10-year bond futures contract at 97.325 (implying a yield of 2.675pct), from 97.38 (2.62pct) on Tuesday
* September 2017 3-year bond futures contract at 97.98 (2.02pct), from 98.02 (1.98pct).
(*Bond market closes taken at 1630 AEST previous local session; currency closes taken from 1700 AEST previous local session)

U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday after stronger-than-expected U.S. economic growth outweighed concerns about escalating tensions between the United States and North Korea and uncertainty in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.

Gross domestic product was revised higher to show a 3.0 percent annual growth rate in the second quarter, due partly to robust consumer spending as well as strong business investment.

Adding to the positive sentiment, U.S. private-sector employers beat economists’ expectations as they hired 237,000 workers in August, marking the biggest monthly increase in five months.
“I have doubts how sustainable the macro economy is, but perceived fundamentals are still okay. GDP confirmed that,” said John Velis, macro strategist at State Street Global Markets in Boston.
“You can come up with plenty excuses to remain (invested) in the market.”

President Donald Trump said he wants to see the U.S. corporate tax rate drop to 15 percent but the White House offered no new tax plan, leaving the proposal in the hands of Congress. Tax reform was one of Trump’s main talking points during his campaign and expectations for its passage have been a main driver of stock gains since he won the presidency.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 27.06 points, or 0.12 percent, to end at 21,892.43, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 11.29 points, or 0.46 percent, to 2,457.59 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 66.42 points, or 1.05 percent, to 6,368.31.

The Nasdaq closed within 1 percent of its record closing high set in late July.
Tensions between the United States and North Korea seemed to escalate after Trump dismissed any diplomatic negotiations via a tweet, saying “talking is not the answer,” a day after Pyongyang fired a ballistic missile that flew over Japan.
However, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis later said the United States still has diplomatic options.

H&R Block (HRB.N) fell 8.3 percent to $26.81 after the tax preparation service provider reported a bigger-than-expected loss.
Aerovironment (AVAV.O) rose 18.2 percent to $46.52 after the drone maker reported a smaller-than-expected loss and revenue that beat estimates.
Analog Devices (ADI.O) closed up 5.2 percent at $83.72 after the chipmaker’s quarterly earnings and forecast exceeded expectations.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.66-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.69-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
Some 376 U.S.-traded issues posted new 52-week highs and there were 245 new lows. Highs were well below their average over the past year while lows were slightly above theirs.
About 5.12 billion shares changed hands in U.S. exchanges, below the 5.84 billion daily average over the last 20 sessions.

Source: Netwealth Morning Business Roundup

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