Nasdaq finishes year 38% higher: SPI signals a drop at the open

 

The SPI indicates that the Australian share market is poised to retreat at the open with hopes that a bullish last-minute rally on Wall Street on New Year’s Eve could help offset negative sentiment. The tech heavy Nasdaq managed to gain more than $7 trillion over the last decade showing that it has well and truly recovered from the dot-com crash, with strong performances from tech majors like Apple, Microsoft and Facebook boosting the index to close out 2019 with a 38 per cent gain. The Shanghai Composite also closed off its best year since 2014 despite the US trade dispute. On the commodities front, Gold clawed its way to a 3-month high to secure its best annual performance since 2010, boosted by Brexit unrest in many countries which has prompted key central banks and exchange traded funds to buy up big.

Local economic news 

We are expecting CoreLogic to release house price data for the month of December.

Markets:

US markets closed higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ all gaining approximately 0.3 per cent.

European markets losed lower: London’s FTSE closed 0.6 per cent lower, Paris lost 0.1 per cent and Frankfurt dropped 0.7 per cent.

Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei lost 0.6 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.5 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.3 per cent.

Taking all of this into equation, the ASX futures are pointing to a 138 point fall. On Tuesday, the Australian share market closed 1.8 per cent, or 121 points lower to close the decade at 6,684 points. The last days of trade saw profit taking as investors closed out their position on the back of dividend payouts.

Ex-dividends

4 companies are going ex-dividend today – Magellan Global Trust (ASX:MGG), Magellan High Conviction Trust (ASX:MHH), NB Global Corporate Income Trust (ASX:NBI) and Pengana Private (ASX:PE1).

Currencies

One Australian Dollar at 7:00AM was buying 70.17 US cents, 52.97 Pence Sterling, 76.26 Yen and 62.57 Euro cents.

Commodities

Iron Ore futures suggest a 0.5 per cent rise.
Gold closed $4.90 higher to US$1,523 an ounce.
Silver closed 5 cents lower to US$17.92 an ounce.
Light Crude closed 60 cents lower at $61.06.
 
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Source: Finance News Network