Australian shares to surge at the open following US gains

Australian shares to surge at the open following US gains

 

Australian shares are set to to start the week on a positive footing following overseas gains. US stocks rose Friday as news about a potential coronavirus treatment increased hope for an economic recovery. Investors were encouraged by news that Gilead's remdesivir drug was found to significantly improve clinical recovery and reduced the risk of death in COVID-19 patients. Shares in Gilead rose 2.2 per cent .Tech stocks also continued their winning streak. Shares in Netflix rose 8.1 per cent on a broker upgrade.

Global oil prices rose on Friday after the International Energy Agency lifted its 2020 forecast for global oil demand. Iron ore was unchanged on Friday at US$107.05 a tonne. Over the week iron ore rose by US$5.85 or 5.8 per cent

Markets

Wall Street closed higher on Friday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.4 per cent to close at 26,075, the S&P 500 rose 1.1 per cent to close at 3185 and the NASDAQ closed adding 0.7 per cent to 10617.

European markets closed higher. London’s FTSE added 0.8 per cent, Paris gained 1 per cent while Frankfurt closed 1.2 per cent higher.

Asian markets closed lower, Nikkei shed 1.1 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 1.8 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite closed 2 per cent lower.

Taking all of this into equation, the SPI futures are pointing to a rise of 95 points
On Friday, the Australian share market dropped 36 points (0.6 per cent) to close at 5919.

Local economic news

Today the ABS releases the Overseas Arrivals and Departures publication. On Tomorrow, the regular weekly survey on consumer confidence is issued by ANZ and Roy Morgan. Also tomorrow the NAB business survey for June is released. On Wednesday, the Westpac-Melbourne Institute Consumer Confidence index for July is scheduled. On Thursday, the ABS issues June labour force data. Over 835,000 jobs were lost in April and May due to pandemic business shutdowns and social distancing measures.

Company news

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has zoomed past Warren Buffett on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index to become the world's seventh wealthiest person.
Musk's fortune rose more than US$6 billion ($8.6b) Friday, according to Bloomberg, after Tesla's stock surged 10.8 per cent to a record $1,544 per share. Its market value stood at $286.5 billion.

Currencies

One Australian Dollar at 7:45 AM was buying 69.56 US cents, 55.09 Pence Sterling, 74.39 Yen and 61.54 Euro cents.

Commodities

Iron Ore is flat at US$106.32.
Iron Ore futures suggest a 3.7 per cent rise.
Gold has shed $1.90 to US$1802 an ounce.
Silver was up $0.09 cents to US$19.05 an ounce.
Crude oil has gained $0.93 to US$40.55 a barrel

Copyright 2020 – Finance News Network


Source: Finance News Network

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