Profit taking pulls handbrake on bullish US tech rally: Aus shares to open lower

04Sep

Profit taking pulls handbrake on bullish US tech rally: Aus shares to open lower

 

The Australian share market is set to open lower after US stocks retreated overnight as profit taking pulled a handbrake on the bullish US tech rally. US benchmark indices pared losses in late trade, with tech stocks dragging on the market. Tesla fell 8.8 per cent; Microsoft fell 6.3 per cent and both Amazon and Google’s parent company, Alphabet dipped more than 5.2% lower. The retreat comes one day after the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 closed at record highs, prompting analysts to warn that valuations had become stretched.

Local economic news

Today we are expecting the Australian Bureau of Statistics will release the retail trade figures for the month of July.

Markets

Wall Street closed lower yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 2.8 per cent, the S&P 500 dropped 3.5 per cent and the NASDAQ plunged almost 5 per cent lower.

European markets closed lower, London’s FTSE fell 1.5 per cent, Paris lost 0.4 per cent and Frankfurt closed 1.4 per cent lower.

Asian markets closed mixed, Tokyo’s Nikkei added 0.9 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.5 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite closed 0.6 per cent lower.

Taking all of this into equation, the SPI futures are pointing to almost 2 per cent fall.

Yesterday, the Australian share market closed 0.8 per cent higher at 6113.

Company news

WAM Capital (ASX:WAM) has made an off-market takeover offer for rival listed investment company Concentrated Leaders Fund (ASX:CLF). WAM Capital has offered 2 of its own shares for every 3.7 Concentrated Leaders Fund shares. This equates to a 15.2 per cent premium to Concentrated Leaders Fund's closing price on Wednesday. The bidder’s statement was lodged with ASIC yesterday and released to the ASX last night. Shares is WAM Capital (ASX:WAM) closed 1.42 per cent lower at $2.08 yesterday.

Ex-Dividends

A number of companies are set to go ex-dividend today:
Beacon Lighting Grp (ASX:BLX) is paying 2.4 cents cents fully franked
Bravura Solution Ltd (ASX:BVS) is paying 5.5 cents unfranked
Sealink Travel Grp (ASX:SLK) is paying 4.5 cents fully franked
Wisetech Global Ltd (ASX:WTC) is paying 1.6 cents fully franked
Beacon Lighting Grp (ASX:BLX) is paying 2.4 cents cents fully franked
Bravura Solution Ltd (ASX:BVS) is paying 5.5 cents unfranked
Cyclopharm Limited (ASX:CYC) is paying 0.5 cents unfranked
Ellerston Asian (ASX:EAI) is paying 2.5 cents fully franked
McPherson's Ltd (ASX:MCP) is paying 7 cents fully franked
MNF Group Ltd (ASX:MNF) is paying 3.6 cents fully franked
Pental Ltd (ASX:PTL) is paying 1.5 cents fully franked
SDI Limited (ASX:SDI) is paying 0.5 cents fully franked
Sealink Travel Grp (ASX:SLK) is paying 4.5 cents fully franked
Wisetech Global Ltd (ASX:WTC) is paying 1.6 cents fully franked
Zoono Group Ltd (ASX:ZNO) is paying 3 cents unfranked

Currencies

One Australian Dollar at 6:55 AM was buying 72.74 US cents, 54.78 Pence Sterling, 77.24 Yen and 61.39 Euro cents.

Commodities

Iron Ore gained 2.1 per cent to US$129.92.
Iron Ore futures suggest a 2.4 per cent fall.
Gold has lost $7.40 to US$1937 an ounce.
Silver was down $0.63 to US$26.76 an ounce.
Oil was down $0.19 to US$41.32 a barrel.
 
Copyright 2020 – Finance News Network


Source: Finance News Network

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