Good Morning Fellow Traders,
Thanks @Quantum Torus or should that be Quantum Fruit Loop? @Ravgnome and AM Loungers. some nice winter weekend weather in parts of Oz.
Just a heads up that I'm looking for a Pre Open thread maker for all of next week as I leave this sunny clime and head down to chilly Victoria - mad, I know.
The Australian share market has closed stronger, with gains almost
across the board and miners buoyed by BHP's deal to sell its troublesome US shale oil assets.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed up 55.7 points, or 0.89 per cent, at 6,300.2 points on Friday, while the broader All Ordinaries rose 53.9 points, or 0.85 per cent, to 6,391.5 points.
For the week the benchmark index has gained 14 points and, to date, has lifted 1.7 per cent during July.
The share market is on track to record four consecutive months of gains, the longest run since 2013.
Nearly a year after putting its US shale assets up for sale and after months of market anticipation, BHP on Friday announced it had secured a sale.
BHP shares gained 76 cents, or 2.3 per cent, to close at $34.40 on Friday, underscoring the deal's better-than-expected sale price and expectations of a lucrative share buyback.
Bell Direct equities analyst Julia Lee said the sale of the US energy assets was a surprise for shareholders.
"It (the sale) was sooner than expected, which was nice to see," she said.
"And secondly, the price which was higher than expected so shareholders would have been pretty happy."
But the bad news continued for AMP as the firm warned its first-half underlying profit will drop by as much as 11 per cent and it set aside about $290 million to refund and compensate customers it overcharged for financial advice.
Shares in the firm slumped 18 points, or 5.2 per cent, to $3.30.
Despite this, the financial sector lifted one per cent, helped by solid gains for the big four banks.
ANZ rose 1.6 per cent to $29.48 and National Australia Bank gained one per cent to $28.40, while Westpac closed 1.1 per cent higher at $29.47 and Commonwealth Bank gained 0.7 per cent to $75.36.
Oil stocks climbed after Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil company announced on Thursday it was temporarily halting crude shipments through the Red Sea, causing a spike in global oil prices.
The Australian dollar lost ground ahead of expected strong US economic growth figures that have boosted the greenback.
The Aussie was trading at 73.88 US cents at 1700 AEST on Friday, down from 74.28 US cents on Thursday.
ON THE ASX
* The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was up 55.7 points, or 0.89 per cent, at 6,300.2 points
* The broader All Ordinaries index was up 53.9 points, or 0.85 per cent, to 6,391.5 points.
* The SPI200 futures contract was up 54 points, or 0.87 per cent, at 6,251 points at 1630 AEST
CURRENCY SNAPSHOT AT 1700 AEST:
One Australian dollar buys:
* 73.88 US cents, from 74.28 US cents on Thursday
* 82.018 Japanese yen, from 82.21
* 63.43 euro cents, from 63.37
* 56.40 British pence, from 56.31
* 108.93 NZ cents, from 108.73
GOLD:
The spot price of gold in Sydney at 1700 AEST was $US1,223.54 per fine ounce, up from $US1,229.67 per fine ounce on Thursday.
Wall Street’s major indexes fell on Friday as weak earnings reports from major technology companies led to a big drop for the sector.
Intel Corp (
INTC.O) shares sank 8.6 percent after the chipmaker’s data center business missed estimates amid stiff rivalry from Advanced Micro Devices Inc (
AMD.O). AMD shares rose 3.2 percent.
Twitter Inc (
TWTR.N) shares plunged 20.5 percent after the social media network reported a decline in monthly active users, versus the increase analysts had expected, and warned of further drops as it deletes phony accounts.
The S&P 500 technology index .SPLRCT fell 2.0 percent, the most among the major S&P sectors. Shares of Apple Inc (
AAPL.O), which is set to report quarterly results on Tuesday, fell 1.7 percent. Shares of Microsoft Corp (
MSFT.O) and Alphabet Inc (
GOOGL.O), which had soared after both companies recently reported strong quarterly results, dropped 1.8 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively. Alphabet shares touched an all-time high earlier in the session but reversed course.
The pressure on tech stocks started on Thursday after Facebook Inc (
FB.O) gave a dismal forecast that caught investors off guard about growth prospects in a sector that has led the market’s march toward record highs.
“There’s a bit of concern perhaps growing that the bloom’s off the rose for these tech stocks, that they are not invincible,” said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment strategist at Inverness Counsel in New York.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average
.DJI fell 76.01 points, or 0.3 percent, to 25,451.06, the S&P 500
.SPX lost 18.62 points, or 0.66 percent, to 2,818.82 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC dropped 114.77 points, or 1.46 percent, to 7,737.42.
The Nasdaq exceeded Thursday’s losses to register once again its biggest daily percentage drop in a month.
For the week, the Nasdaq shed 1.06 percent, but the S&P rose 0.61 percent. The Dow, cushioned by promising developments in trade relations between the United States and the European Union earlier this week, added 1.57 percent.
Intel and Twitter’s disappointing results overshadowed data from the Commerce Department showing the U.S. economy grew at a 4.1 percent annualized rate in the second quarter, its fastest pace in nearly four years, on higher consumer spending and farmers rushing soybean shipments to China to beat tariffs.
Economists and investors cautioned against putting too much weight on the growth, which matched expectations, as the trade-related boost is expected to unwind later this year.
Intel and Twitter’s disappointing results overshadowed data from the Commerce Department showing the U.S. economy grew at a 4.1 percent annualized rate in the second quarter, its fastest pace in nearly four years, on higher consumer spending and farmers rushing soybean shipments to China to beat tariffs.
Economists and investors cautioned against putting too much weight on the growth, which matched expectations, as the trade-related boost is expected to unwind later this year.
Amazon.com Inc (
AMZN.O) shares jumped as much as 4 percent to a record high of $1,880.05 after the e-commerce giant forecast strong sales and posted a profit that was double analysts’ estimates. Amazon shares closed up 0.5 percent.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 2.03-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 3.39-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 25 new 52-week highs and three new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 63 new highs and 99 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 6.81 billion shares, compared with the 6.04 billion average over the last 20 trading days.
The Australian share market is expected to start the week slightly lower after technology stocks dragged Wall Street into the red.
AMP Capital's chief economist Shane Oliver expects the local share market to open about 25 points down on Monday.
"We can blame Facebook. The US market was down on Friday and it was mainly worries about tech stocks dragging it down," he told AAP on Sunday.
"You might see this initial fall and then a bit of a grind higher as the day proceeds."
The recovery is likely given the small size of the Australian technology sector, Dr Oliver added.
The local reporting season begins this week, with results from Vodafone Australia on Tuesday, before investors look to Rio Tinto on Wednesday.
Last week, the benchmark index gained 14 points and had lifted 1.7 per cent so far during July.
The share market is on track to record four consecutive months of gains, the longest run since 2013.
Economic data to be released this week include CoreLogic capital city house prices for the week, ABS building approvals for June and ABS retail trade for June.
Source: Netwealth Morning Business Roundup
Brekkie this morning is Mini Frittatas and your choice of hot beverage.
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In consideration of others, PLEASE include the STOCK CODE in all your posts.
Happy trading, play nicely and make informed decisions.
