Trying to get my head around the new HC but it's all too much with The debarcle that has been ANZ Investing and CMC as well as my computer updates.
Thinking of @dante and hoping things with young Connor who suffered injuries during the recent storms are as good as can be expected.
The Australian share market has finished flat after its worst trading week in almost three years.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 11.9 points, or 0.2 per cent, at 5,895.7 points at 1630 AEDT on Friday, while the broader All Ordinaries was up 13 points, or 0.22 per cent, at 6006.5.
The SPI200 futures index was up 29 points, or 0.5 per cent, at 5854 while the Australian dollar was buying 71.26 US cents from 70.70 on Thursday.
Rakuten Securities Australia's chief operating officer Nick Twidale said there had been some consolidation during Friday's session but warned all the influences seen over the past few days were still relevant.
Investors watching the forthcoming US session will be focusing on the news about remaining concerns over US-Sino relations, as well as the disconnect between the US Federal Reserve and political executive, Mr Tiwdale said.
There are two scenarios, he said, either there's a small correction on US markets, the US dollar comes off and stocks stabilise - with some profit-taking ahead of the weekend softening volatility.
Or the US market fails to correct and Australian stocks slide down with lower liquidities and currencies including the Yen, NZ and Footsie all going topside.
"If anything happens over the weekend it'll be a very nasty start to the next week," he said, adding traders and investors are all poised to see if there were further downsides into the weekend.
Thursday's trade wiped an estimated $50 billion off the share market in its worst day since February as the benchmark ASX200 dipped 2.7 per cent to a five-month low.
The market was as much as 0.6 lower in early trade on Friday and, despite clawing back most of its early losses, was still on track for its worst week since January 2016.
Heavy losses in oil prices overnight weighed on the energy sector, which ended the session down 1.5 per cent with Santos, Oil Search Limited, Woodside Petroleum and Origin Energy all down between 1.15 and 1.76 per cent.
Fairfax Group plunged more than 13 per cent while Nine Entertainment was down 12.38 per cent ahead of their planned merger after Fairfax said revenue for the financial year-to-date was down five per cent on the prior corresponding period.
The banks have ended the day on a fifty-fifty split after ANZ faced the same parliamentary grilling dished out to Commonwealth Bank and Westpac on Thursday.
Westpac and CBA are in the green while ANZ and NAB are both down, at 0.38 and 0.35 per cent lower respectively.
Macquarie Group shares have turned around after a rough morning, ending the day flat at $115.53.
Gold miners were among the only to enjoy gains during Thursday's plunge but a slight rise in copper and iron ore overnight spread the joy to the other big players.
BHP was up 1.32 per cent to $33.84, and Rio Tinto gained 1.85 per cent to $78.03 at 1630 AEDT.
Investors continued to flock to safe-haven gold with local gold miners Northern Star, St Barbara, Newcrest Mining, and Evolution up between 3.26 and 8.04 per cent.
ON THE ASX:
* The S&P/ASX200 was up 11.9 points, or 0.2 per cent, higher to 5895.7 points.
* The All Ordinaries was up 13 points, or 0.22 per cent, higher to 6006.5 points.
* In futures trading the SPI200 futures index was up 29 points, or 0.5 per cent, at 5854 points at 1630 AEDT.
CURRENCY SNAPSHOT AT 1630 AEDT:
One Australian dollar buys:
* 71.26 US cents, from 70.70 US cents on Thursday
* 80.08 Japanese yen, from 79.25
* 60.14 euro cents, from 61.17
* 53.83 British pence, from 53.47
* 1.09.30 NZ cents, from 1.09.22
GOLD:
The spot price of gold in Sydney at 1630 AEDT was $US1220.96 per fine ounce, up from $US1193.419 on Thursday.
The U.S. benchmark S&P 500 stock index snapped a six-day losing streak on Friday as technology stocks recovered after a week of losses, with investors looking for bargains ahead of the third quarter earnings reporting season.
Even the hard-hit S&P500 energy and financial sectors managed to close the session with slight gains after a late afternoon rally.
The S&P technology index .SPLRCT gained 3.2 percent on the day, showing its strongest one-day gain since March 26, although it still registered its biggest weekly drop since March 23.
“People are starting to buy in, thinking the higher flying growth stocks were oversold. They wanted to get in before next week when earnings start coming,” said Janna Sampson, co-chief investment officer at OakBrook Investments LLC in Lisle, Illinois.
But until the U.S. and China reach a trade deal, the rebound in the stockmarket could be vulnerable as investors are anxious about the impact of tariffs on corporate profits.
“If earnings come out good I think this rally is sustainable if we don’t get negative trade news. Trade news is the wild card. That’s the big if,” said Sampson.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 287.16 points, or 1.15 percent, to 25,339.99, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 38.76 points, or 1.42 percent, to 2,767.13 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 167.83 points, or 2.29 percent, to 7,496.89.
The technology sector’s biggest boosts were Apple (AAPL.O), and Microsoft (MSFT.O) which rose more than 3.0 percent. Visa (V.N) and Mastercard (MA.N) both climbed almost 5.0 percent, boosted by strong credit card sales included in bank earnings reports, according to Oakbook’s Sampson.
The S&P500’s financial sector ended the day up 0.1 percent and the S&P 500 banks subsector .SPXBK closed down 0.4 percent, well above its session low. The biggest drag on the subsector was JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N), which closed down 1.0 percent despite reporting a quarterly profit that beat expectations.
PNC Financial (PNC.N) led the percentage losers among bank stocks, with a 5.6 percent drop after the regional bank reported disappointing quarterly loan growth and said it expected only a small improvement in lending this quarter.
The three gainers among banks included Citigroup (C.N), which rose 2.0 percent, and Wells Fargo (WFC.N), which eked out a 1.3 percent gain after upbeat results.
Netflix (NFLX.O) and Amazon (AMZN.O), some of the names that took a big hits in the week’s selloff, rose 5.7 percent and 4.0 percent respectively.
The bank results launch a quarterly reporting season that will give the clearest picture yet of the impact on profits from President Donald Trump’s trade war with China.
Earnings at S&P 500 companies are estimated to have risen 21.5 percent in the third quarter, according to I/B/E/S data from Refinitiv, a slowdown from the previous two quarters.
Energy stocks .SPNY ended the day up 0.3 percent as oil prices steadied to settle up slightly after a volatile session dropped on a weakening oil demand outlook. [O/R]
The consumer discretionary .SPLRCD and communication services .SPLRCL sectors, both rose more than 2.0 percent.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.38-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.51-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 index posted no new 52-week highs and 52 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 10 new highs and 234 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 8.91 billion shares, well above the 7.78 billion average for the last 20 trading days but below the soaring volume of Thursday’s and Wednesday’s sessions.
The Australian sharemarket is expected to start the week lower again on Monday, but experts say there's plenty of room for improvement.
It follows a flat finish to the week for the market after one of the worst trading weeks in almost three years as a result of falls in the United States rippling out to world markets.
Thursday was the share market's worst session since February, with $50 billion was wiped off as the benchmark ASX200 dipped 2.7 per cent to a five-month low.
The Australian Futures market is predicting the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index will start the week 51 points down following last week's volatility.
However Commsec Chief Economist Craig James says the market could quickly turn around again.
"It's hard to reconcile that (lower start predicted) with everything else that's going on - we had oil higher, a number of the base metal prices higher," Mr James said.
"We've just got to take that at face value and see how it plays out, but our expectation is there'll be a few more bumps over the next week as markets adjust to the fact that (US) interest rates are going up."
He said despite the volatility, the strength of the local market would see it likely weather the current storm, although a number of factors could serve to undercut that positivity.
This week will see the release of the Reserve Bank board minutes on Tuesday, after the RBA left interest rates on hold at 1.5 per cent earlier this month.
Thursday will see the release of employment data for September, which could also have an effect on the market.
Internationally, China is expected to release economic growth figures this week, while all eyes will be on the continuing US-China trade stoush.
The Australian dollar was trading at 71.1 US cents on Sunday, down slightly from its highs of last week when it topped 72 cents.
Source: Netwealth Morning Business Roundup
Prepare yourself for the week ahead by fueling up on a Poached Egg and Smoked Salmon on Turkish Toast and Double Coffee.
In consideration of others, PLEASE include the STOCK CODE in all your posts.
Happy trading, play nicely and make informed decisions.
