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Category: Stockmarket / Currency / Markets / Futures

US share markets finish mixed

Thursday, 23 Mar 2017 05:58:24 | Lucia Stein

The Dow Jones Industrial Average eased very slightly, but the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were up. (Chip East: Reuters)

Stocks in the United States and Europe appear to have been little affected by an attack in London near the British parliament which left four people dead and several others injured overnight.

Markets at 8:00am (AEDT):

  • ASX SPI 200 futures +0.33pc to 5,687
  • AUD: 76.75 US cents, 61.46 British pence, 85.31 Japanese yen, 71.07 euro cents, $NZ1.08
  • US: S&P 500 +0.18pc to 2,348, Dow Jones -0.03pc to 20,661, Nasdaq +0.48pc to 5,821
  • Europe: Euro Stoxx -0.32pc to 364.55, FTSE -0.73pc to 7,324, DAX -0.5pc to 11,904
  • Commodities: Gold +0.35pc to $US1,248.85/ounce, Brent crude oil -0.4pc to $US50.74/barrel

Wall Street had a mixed finish, after the Nasdaq and S&P 500 rose modestly in late trading, as investors took advantage of yesterday's losses to buy bargain shares.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average defied the rebound in the other indices to close lower.

It was largely dragged down by a fall of more than 5 per cent in footwear maker Nike after it missed quarterly revenue estimates.

The market remains quite cautious as it closely watches the outcome of the Trump administration's healthcare bill.

Today is being seen as a key test of President Donald Trump's leadership, as investors look at what the decision means for the relationship between the White House and Congress and, consequently, the administration's ability to push through future tax cuts and its deregulation agenda.

"If the bill does not pass, that could suggests a low willingness of Congress to accommodate Trump's legislative agenda and could delay or reduce the scope of Trump's signature policies of tax reform and infrastructure spending on which markets have rallied on," NAB economist Tapas Strickland wrote in an analyst note.

"With such a backdrop, markets have mostly treaded water overnight following yesterday's risk-off Asia session."

In company news, Apple was the stand out performer in the session, up nearly 1 per cent, after it announced a series of new products this week.

European stocks also extended losses from the previous session, under pressure from weaker banking stocks.

The pan-European stock index closed a third of a per cent lower, while London's FTSE 100 index dropped almost 0.75 per cent.

Analysts have credited the weakness of the pound with supporting the index as it reached record levels this year.

But the rise in the pound on Tuesday (local time) after inflation for February shot past the Bank of England's 2 per cent target has removed an important catalyst for the FTSE to climb higher.

Locally, the market is on track to open higher.

A short time ago the Australian dollar was down at $US76.74 cents.

West Texas crude oil is up at $US47.19 a barrel, a barrel of Tapis is worth $US51.20 and spot gold is slightly higher at $US1,248 an ounce.

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