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Before making any investment decision, you should seek the relevant advice.
Market Opener – 11 May 2018
Local Markets Commentary
The Australian market opens Friday trade on positive overnight international equities leads.
In overnight commodities trade, oil settled modestly higher. US gold futures notably rose.
Iron ore (China port, 62% Fe) turned higher.
LME copper continued to rally.
The $A was pushed to ~US75.30c after trading at ~US74.80c early yesterday evening.
Locally today, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) releases March residential property lending figures 11.30am AEST.
Regionally, China is expected to publish April lending figures anytime from today.
Overseas Market Commentary
US equities markets opened higher overnight and never looked like retreating, a tame CPI reading soothing some jitters.
Germany’s Dax swung and chopped notably again, however, while the FSTE fell in first-half trade and then trended decisively higher to close at its session high.
In the UK, the Bank of England kept rates on hold, pushing the British pound sharply lower against the $US.
Further, the bank lowered its 2018 GDP growth prediction from 1.8% to 1.4% and CPI growth from 2.7% to 2.4%.
Governor Mark Carney spoke of a ‘soft patch’, but nonetheless ventured a rate rise within a year, pending economic shocks.
Meanwhile, UK data releases included the March trade deficit, which came in at £12.29B, following £10.41B for February.
March manufacturing production rose 2.9% year-on-year, against a 2.5% gain for February. Overall industrial output also grew 2.9%, following 2.1%.
Among US data releases, April CPI rose 0.2% for the month, against forecasts of a 0.3% increase. Excluding energy and food prices, (core) inflation rose just 0.1% for the month. Year-on-year overall CPI growth stood at 2.5%.
Tonight in the US, April import and export prices, plus the University of Michigan’s initial May consumer sentiment reading are due.
Elsewhere, European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi is scheduled to speak publicly.
Arcelor Mittal, Shiseido and Subaru are among companies scheduled to report earnings or provide updates today and tonight.
In overnight corporate news, UK stocks featured early, BP and Shell falling ~2% and 1% respectively while trading ex-dividend.
In addition, telecom major BT announced cost reductions and a restructure including a net loss of 7,000 jobs, and Royal Bank of Scotland, 70% held by the UK government, conditionally accepted a less-than-feared $US4.9B penalty imposed by US regulators regarding alleged misleading product promotions during 2005 - 2007.
Across the Atlantic, Apple achieved a new record close, following last week’s $US100B buy-back announcement and Berkshire Hathaway’s confidence in continued buying.
The Australian market opens Friday trade on positive overnight international equities leads.
In overnight commodities trade, oil settled modestly higher. US gold futures notably rose.
Iron ore (China port, 62% Fe) turned higher.
LME copper continued to rally.
The $A was pushed to ~US75.30c after trading at ~US74.80c early yesterday evening.
Locally today, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) releases March residential property lending figures 11.30am AEST.
Regionally, China is expected to publish April lending figures anytime from today.
Overseas Market Commentary
US equities markets opened higher overnight and never looked like retreating, a tame CPI reading soothing some jitters.
Germany’s Dax swung and chopped notably again, however, while the FSTE fell in first-half trade and then trended decisively higher to close at its session high.
In the UK, the Bank of England kept rates on hold, pushing the British pound sharply lower against the $US.
Further, the bank lowered its 2018 GDP growth prediction from 1.8% to 1.4% and CPI growth from 2.7% to 2.4%.
Governor Mark Carney spoke of a ‘soft patch’, but nonetheless ventured a rate rise within a year, pending economic shocks.
Meanwhile, UK data releases included the March trade deficit, which came in at £12.29B, following £10.41B for February.
March manufacturing production rose 2.9% year-on-year, against a 2.5% gain for February. Overall industrial output also grew 2.9%, following 2.1%.
Among US data releases, April CPI rose 0.2% for the month, against forecasts of a 0.3% increase. Excluding energy and food prices, (core) inflation rose just 0.1% for the month. Year-on-year overall CPI growth stood at 2.5%.
Tonight in the US, April import and export prices, plus the University of Michigan’s initial May consumer sentiment reading are due.
Elsewhere, European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi is scheduled to speak publicly.
Arcelor Mittal, Shiseido and Subaru are among companies scheduled to report earnings or provide updates today and tonight.
In overnight corporate news, UK stocks featured early, BP and Shell falling ~2% and 1% respectively while trading ex-dividend.
In addition, telecom major BT announced cost reductions and a restructure including a net loss of 7,000 jobs, and Royal Bank of Scotland, 70% held by the UK government, conditionally accepted a less-than-feared $US4.9B penalty imposed by US regulators regarding alleged misleading product promotions during 2005 - 2007.
Across the Atlantic, Apple achieved a new record close, following last week’s $US100B buy-back announcement and Berkshire Hathaway’s confidence in continued buying.