Good Morning Fellow Traders, Thanks @Trees . @Ravgnome and AM...

Good Morning Fellow Traders,

Thanks @Trees . @Ravgnome and AM Loungers. Very cool rain themed music over the weekend in the Lounge - great to chill out to.

The Australian share market has closed modestly lower, largely due to losses from the heavyweight mining sector.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 was down 12.2 points, or 0.21 per cent, at 5,868.8 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index was down 12 points, or 0.2 per cent, at 5,964.4 points.

The miners led losses partly due to lower base metal prices which dropped overnight after the US dollar rose.

The best performer was the energy sector, while other sectors under pressure included the telecommunications and utilities and the slightly weaker heavyweight financials.

Shaw & Partners senior private client adviser Craig Sidney said the miners were coming off strong recent gains.
"There is a bit of profit taking across the resources space because they have been particularly strong," he said.
"But it is nothing significant. We remain positive on the resource sector and feel there is more upside to come."
Mr Sidney said shares in the major banks were largely flat with most of the pressure coming from the fund managers in light of AMP's admissions to the banking royal commission.

Global miner BHP Billiton was down six cents, or 0.2 per cent, at $30.86, Rio Tinto declined 89 cents, or 1.1 per cent, to $80.53, and Fortescue Metals dropped eight cents, or 1.7 per cent, to $4.63.

In the energy sector, Woodside Petroleum advanced 36 cents, or 1.2 per cent, to $31.42, Santos was flat at $6.00 and Oil Search improved seven cents, or 0.9 per cent, to $7.84.

A rise in US 10-year Treasury yields helped bank stocks on Wall Street overnight, which helped ease the pressure on Australian banks flowing from the hearings of the royal commission into the financial sector.

Westpac and ANZ were both flat, while the Commonwealth Bank shed 34 cents, or 0.5 per cent, to $72.06 and National Australia Bank lifted four cents, or 0.1 per cent, to $28.37.
NAB has flagged $755 million of pre-tax restructuring costs, putting the hit close to the upper end of its first-half guidance.

Wealth management giant AMP was down two cents, or 0.5 per cent, at $4.30 after the company's chief executive Craig Meller quit.
Mr Meller's resignation follows AMP's admission to the financial services royal commission that it charged clients for advice they never received and then lied to the corporate watchdog about it.
Fund manager Perpetual dropped 58 cents, or 1.5 per cent, to $39.23.

A better performer was Sydney Airport which gained three cents, or 0.5 per cent, to $6.56 after it reported a record 11.1 million travellers passed through Sydney's airport in the March quarter.

Meanwhile, the Australian dollar was lower against the US dollar after the release of disappointing local jobs figures on Thursday.

Traders also sold the British pound, the Australian dollar, the Canadian dollar and the Kiwi after Bank of England governor Mark Carney said a hike in interest rates was not a foregone conclusion.

At 1700 AEST, the local currency was worth 77.09 US cents, from 78.01 US cents on Thursday.

Looking ahead, markets will watch closely oil production cut talks between the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC nations on Friday night.

ON THE ASX AT THE CLOSE:
* The benchmark S&P/ASX200 was down 12.2 points, or 0.21 per cent, at 5,868.8 points
* The broader All Ordinaries index was down 12 points, or 0.2 per cent, at 5,964.4 points
* The SPI200 futures contract was down five points, or 0.09 per cent, at 5,849 points
* National turnover was 2.1 billion securities traded worth $3.7 billion.

CURRENCY SNAPSHOT AT 1700 AEST:
One Australian dollar buys:
* 77.09 US cents, from 78.01 on Thursday
* 82.91 Japanese yen, from 83.77 yen
* 62.49 euro cents, from 63.01 euro cents
* 54.85 British pence, from 54.93 pence
* 106.55 NZ cents, from 106.50 cents

GOLD:
The spot price of gold in Sydney at 1700 AEST was $US1,344.50 per fine ounce, from $US1,353.40 per fine ounce on Thursday.

BOND SNAPSHOT AT 1630 AEST:
* CGS 4.50 per cent April 2020, 2.103pct, 2.1125pct on Thursday
* CGS 4.75pct April 2027, 2.773pct, from 2.752pct
Sydney Futures Exchange prices:
* June 2018 10-year bond futures contract was 97.180 (implying a yield of 2.82pct), from 97.205 (2.795pct) on Thursday
* June 2018 3-year bond futures contract was steady at 97.730 (2.27pct).
(*Bond market closes taken at 1630 AEST previous local session; currency closes taken from 1700 AEST previous local session)

Aussie investors should brace for a soft opening on Monday after Wall Street and European markets closed the week at a loss.
Commsec chief economist Craig James said investors were spooked about the jump in US bond yields, while technology stocks were down on Wall Street.

"We're likely to see a soft opening in trading here," Mr James told AAP on Sunday.
"From a global perspective, nothing is really inspiring us to move higher."


Mr James said there had still been gains in the past two weeks despite the market closing down on Friday.
In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 202.09 points, or 0.82 per cent, to 24,462.8, the S&P 500 lost 22.98 points, or 0.85 per cent, to 2,670.15 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 91.93 points, or 1.27 per cent, to 7,146.13.

Meanwhile, the Australian dollar was lower against the US dollar after the release of disappointing local jobs figures on Thursday.

Mr James said inflation would be in the spotlight for local investors this week.
Tuesday will be busy with the release of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) March quarter consumer price index, with growth tipped to increase by around two per cent for the year.

Meanwhile, ANZ and Roy Morgan will issue the weekly gauge of consumer confidence, and the Reserve Bank Assistant Governor Christopher Kent will speak at a Housing Industry Association breakfast.
On Friday, the ABS release the producer price indexes that will provide a measure on inflation across the business sector.

Wall Street’s three major indexes declined on Friday as investors worried about a jump in U.S. bond yields, with technology stocks leading the decline on nerves about upcoming earnings reports and iPhone demand.

The technology index .SPLRCT was the biggest drag on the S&P 500 with a 1.5 percent drop after registering three straight days of losses ahead of a key earnings week for the sector.
“There continues to be some concern over interest rates and their potential impact on equities. There’s also been a little bit of a lack of momentum in this earnings period,” said Rick Meckler, president of investment firm LibertyView Capital Management in Jersey City, New Jersey.
“It’s not that earnings weren’t good enough but company forecasts often weren’t strong enough to make the market continue to rise,” he said.

Despite Friday’s decline the S&P eked out a gain of 0.5 percent for the week to show its second weekly gain in a row.
Equity investors were jittery as the 10-year Treasury yield US10YT=RR reached its highest level since January 2014 as a bond selloff continued for a second day, driving the yield curve steeper after two weeks of flattening. [US/]
Benchmark 10-year notes US10YT=RR last fell 12/32 in price to yield 2.9583 percent, from 2.914 percent Thursday.

When yields are high, investors favor bonds over equities including sectors such as consumer staples and real estate, which promise high dividends and slow, predictable growth. But high interest rates can boost bank profits so the financial sector managed to show a 0.05 percent gain, making it the best performer out of the S&P’s 11 industry sectors.
The consumer staples sector .SPLRCS was the biggest percentage decliner with a 1.7 percent fall, led by PepsiCo (PEP.O).

“We’re seeing a follow through from yesterday’s action when the key was weakness in consumer staples. We came to this earnings season with very optimistic expectations and we’re seeing some very fundamental bottoms up issues at these companies,” said Michael O’Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading in Greenwich, Connecticut.
Procter & Gamble (PG.N) fell 2.9 percent on top of a 4.2 percent drop the day before when it said shrinking retailer inventories and higher costs squeezed its margins.
Philip Morris International (PM.N) also had a second day of declines after getting crushed due to weak shipment volumes in its quarterly report.

Apple (AAPL.O) fell 4.1 percent, making it the biggest drag on the major indexes after Morgan Stanley estimated weak demand for its latest iPhones, a day after Taiwan Semiconductor (2330.TW) raised fears of softer smartphone sales.
Alphabet (GOOGL.O), Facebook (FB.O), Intel (INTC.O) and Microsoft (MSFT.O) are among the major technology companies reporting next week.

S&P 500 companies are expected to report their strongest first-quarter profit gains in seven years. Of the 87 companies that have reported so far, 79.3 percent have topped profit expectations, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 2.05-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.68-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 12 new 52-week highs and 22 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 54 new highs and 51 new lows.

On U.S. exchanges 6.45 billion shares changed hands compared to the 6.92 billion average for the last 20 trading days.

Source: Netwealth Morning Business Roundup

We have Wraps filled with Healthy Yummy Stuff and Mango Coconut Smoothies for our Monday morning Breakfast.


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