Australian shares appear set to open higher as shares in Europe and the US advanced as war rhetoric eased. US sharemarkets rebounded yesterday after US President Donald Trump cast doubt over the timing of a threatened strike on Syria. Boeing (+3.1%) shares performed strongly. Delta Air Lines (+2.9%) also beat profit estimates, despite rising costs. At the close of trade, twenty four of the Dow's 30 components were higher paced by a 3.2 per cent rise in Intel. Boeing, DowDuPont, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan rounded out the top five advancers.
On the commodities front – Global oil prices held near 3-year highs yesterday as Middle East geo-political tensions continued to support prices.
US economic news
In US economic data import prices were unchanged (forecast: +0.2%), while export prices rose by 0.3% (forecast: +0.2%) in March. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell by 9,000 to 233,000 (forecast: 230,000) for the week ended April 7.
Local economic news
The Reserve Bank of Australia's Financial Stability Review is released later today.
Taking all of this into equation, the ASX futures are pointing to a 18 points gain. Yesterday the Australian share market closed lower with the S&P/ASX 200 Index losing 13 points to close at 5816.
Figures from around the globe
Wall Street closed higher: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.2 per cent to close at 24,483, the S&P 500 added 0.8 per cent to close at 2,664 and the NASDAQ rose 1.01 per cent to close at 7140.
European markets closed higher: London’s FTSE rose 0.02 per cent, Paris closed 0.6 per cent higher and Frankfurt gained almost 1 per cent.
Asian markets closed lower: Tokyo’s Nikkei fell 0.1 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.2 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite declined 0.9 per cent.
Company news
Leading Apple Premium reseller Story-i (ASX:SRY) has announced that its subsidiary is set to buy the retail business and assets of PT Global Teleshop
PT Inetindo Infocom has entered into a binding term. Two stores are in Bali and three others in other parts of Indonesia.
After this acquisition, Story-i will have 37 store and service centre locations in 14 cities across Indonesia. They will become the 2nd largest Apple partner in Indonesia.
The CEO says it will also expand their geographical coverage and access to the middle income consumer market as we extend our across Indonesia.
The company is also an Apple Education Reseller with a client list that includes several universities and international schools.
Shares in Story-I (ASX:SRY) closed 10% lower to $0.027
Ex-dividend
Turners Automotive group (ASX:TRA) selling 3.61 cents unfranked
Currencies
One Australian Dollar at 7:40AM was buying US77.59 cents, 54.54 Pence Sterling, 83.28 Yen and 62.94 Euro cents.
Commodities
Gold has fell $18.90 to $US1337.50 an ounce.
Silver has dropped $0.32 to $US16.45 an ounce.
Oil has gained $0.34 to $US67.02 a barrel.
Cryptocurrencies
The three most traded cryptocurrencies are trading stronger: Bitcoin has gained 11.42 per cent to US$7,701, Ethereum added 11.36 per cent to US$469.11 and EOS has jumped 13.98 per cent to US$8.84
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