Day Trading Pre Open - 25 June 2018

Good Morning Fellow Traders,

Thanks @Trees, @Ravgnome and DT Loungers. What an epic weekend of football. The standout match for me was Belgium vs Tunisia. I had mentioned pre World Cup that I had my eye on them to do well. England were sizzling last night finding the net a massive six times against Panama who were pretty exuberant just to score their first World Cup goal. More excitement to come as we find out which teams will be battling it out to advance out of their respective Group Stages.

The Australian share market is still hovering around a decade-high despite a slight retreat on Friday after a week of strong gains.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed down 6.9 points, or 0.11 per cent, at 6,225.2 points on Friday, bringing its weekly gain to more than two per cent, while the broader All Ordinaries slipped 10.8 points, or 0.17 per cent, to 6,322.1 points.

Every sector closed in the red, apart from the financials after ANZ's announcement it would would increase its share buyback program by a further $1.5 billion to $3 billion.

The news sent ANZ shares up 2.9 per cent to $28.65, and the positivity spread to the other major banks, with the National Australia Bank rising 1.2 per cent to $27.64, Westpac advancing 1.1 per cent to $29.38 and the Commonwealth Bank gaining 1.3 per cent to $73.86.

Telstra continued to fall as investors ponder the telco's restructure plans - announced on Wednesday - that include 8000 jobs being cut.
Telstra shares fell four cents, or 1.5 per cent, to close at $2.68 cents, nearing the all-time low of $2.55 posted in 2010.
InvestSMART chief market strategist Evan Lucas said given a lot of analysts predict Telstra will slash its dividend from 22 cents to as low as 15 to 19 cents, this may have steered some income-orientated investors out of the telco and into the banks.

Energy stocks were also pummelled as investors bailed amid uncertainty over whether OPEC will manage to agree a production increase at a meeting in Vienna this weekend.
Santos slumped 3.4 per cent to $5.94, Oil Search dropped 1.8 per cent to $8.35, Origin Energy fell 1.8 per cent to $9.72 and Woodside Petroleum was down 1.5 per cent to $34.37.

In companies news, APN Outdoor retreated 2.4 per cent to $6.40 after revealing it has increased its bid for rival Here, There & Everywhere's Adshel advertising unit to $540 million.

Meanwhile, the Australian dollar lifted on Friday but was significantly down for the week against the backdrop of an interest rate differential between Australia and the US and a risk-off scenario given the US-China teetering on the brink of a trade war.

"The Aussie dollar is a proxy for China and we've seen Chinese markets this week get absolutely towelled up as they should be considering that the risk is there," Mr Lucas said.
"Unfortunately (with) the Aussie dollar being a risk currency exposed to emerging markets, particularly Asia, we feel the same thing."
The local currency was trading at 73.99 US cents at 1700 AEST on Friday, from 73.49 US cents on Thursday.

ON THE ASX:
* The benchmark S&P/ASX200 was down 6.9 points, or 0.11 per cent, at 6,225.2 points
* The broader All Ordinaries index was down 10.8 points, or 0.17 per cent, to 6,322.1 points.
* The SPI200 futures contract was down 14 points, or 0.23 per cent, at 6,167 points
* National turnover was 2.9 billion securities traded worth $6.6 billion

CURRENCY SNAPSHOT AT 1700 AEST:
One Australian dollar buys:
* 74.04 US cents, from 73.49 on Thursday
* 81.38 Japanese yen, from 81.30 yen
* 63.62 euro cents, from 63.68 euro cents
* 55.72 British pence, from 55.97 pence
* 107.26 NZ cents, from 107.61 cents

GOLD:
The spot price of gold in Sydney at 1700 AEST was $US1,266.78 per fine ounce, from $US1,262.71 per fine ounce on Thursday

BOND SNAPSHOT AT 1700 AEST:
* CGS 4.50 per cent May 2021, 2021, 2.0952pct, from 2.1267pct on Thursday
* CGS 4.75pct May 2028, 2.6494pct, from 2.6762pct
Sydney Futures Exchange prices:
* September 2018 10-year bond futures contract at 97.33 (implying a yield of 2.67pct), from 97.31 on Thursday
* September 2018 3-year bond futures contract at 97.875 (2.125pct), from 97.85 (2.15pct)

Australian shares look set for a positive start to the week following Friday's gains by markets in the US, Canada and Europe.

OPEC's mixed messages on crude production sent oil prices soaring and gave energy stocks a bump, putting to rest an eight-day losing streak by the Dow.

While a 0.7 per cent gain in Toronto and positive data out of Europe pushed Australian futures up 13 points or 0.2 per cent.

CommSec chief economist Craig James says fears the US-led tit-for-tat trade skirmish could develop into an all-out trade war, along with a softer Australian dollar, had driven overseas investors south.

"One thing investors are focusing on is the US seems intent on creating trade wars with a whole range of different countries and the latest proposal is to put a 20 per cent tariff on cars coming (to the US) from Europe," he said on Sunday.
"The Aussie dollar has been a little bit softer making it easier for foreigners to buy our shares."

However, a slightly firmer Australian dollar in the week ahead may turn some overseas investors away from local shares, which are continuing to hover at near-record levels.

Mr James said uncertainty ahead of the OPEC meeting had led to Australian investors taking profits, causing the ASX to close down on Friday.

There's not a lot of top-shelf data or indicators in the weeks ahead.
Look out for the release of household debt and wealth levels, along with job vacancies, on Thursday.
And as the run-down to the end of financial year approaches, expect to see some earningsguidance released and a tidying of balance sheets.

The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed on Friday, as the Dow put to rest an eight-day losing streak with a boost from energy stocks, but losses in the technology space kept the Nasdaq in check.

U.S. crude settled up 4.6 percent at $68.58 a barrel and Brent settled 3.4 percent higher at $75.55 after oil producers agreed to modest crude output increases to compensate for losses in production at a time of rising global demand.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 119.19 points, or 0.49 percent, to 24,580.89, the S&P 500 gained 5.12 points, or 0.19 percent, to 2,754.88 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 20.14 points, or 0.26 percent, to 7,692.82.

For the week, the Dow lost 2 percent, its weakest weekly performance since late March. The S&P 500 fell 0.9 percent and the Nasdaq declined 0.7 percent.

Trade worries still loomed, however, as U.S. President Donald Trump, in his latest move, threatened to impose a 20 percent tariff on all European Union car imports. The announcement came a month after the administration launched a probe into whether auto imports pose a threat to national security.

“Certainly the longer it drags out, the market is bound to see some pressure, at least in some sectors and with certain companies,” said Ghriskey.


This adds to worries about the China-U.S. trade spat which escalated this week after Trump threatened to impose tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports and Beijing vowed to retaliate.


The latter stages of Friday’s trading brought a surge of volume ahead of FTSE Russell’s reconstitution of its indexes, finalized after the market close.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 2.05-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.16-to-1 ratio favored advancers.

Source: Netwealth Morning Business Roundup

Enjoy your start of the week brekkie of a Spanish Omelette and a labelled Coffee.


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Happy trading, play nicely and make informed decisions.