Australian shares ease 0.1% at the open, US retail sales ahead
Investing.com | Editor Oliver Gray
Published Mar 14, 2024 09:33
Investing.com - The Australian Stock Exchange was trading slightly lower on Thursday, following a mixed close among major benchmark US indices ahead of key retail sales data, which could influence expectations for a shift towards rate cuts.
Several companies will be in the spotlight today, with Myer Holdings Ltd (ASX:MYR) due to release its earnings results, while Aristocrat Leisure Ltd (ASX:ALL) is set to host a management roundtable.
Other companies whose shares will trade ex-dividend on Thursday include Breville Group Ltd (ASX:BRG), Eagers Ltd (ASX:APE), Inghams Group Ltd (ASX:ING), Regis Healthcare Ltd (ASX:REG), Southern Cross Media Group Ltd (ASX:SXL), and TPG Telecom Ltd (ASX:TPG).
ASX futures were up by 22 points or 0.3% to 7759 as of 7am AEDT, indicating a promising start to the trading day. The Australian dollar saw a 0.2% increase to 66.21 US cents, while Bitcoin rose by 3% to $US73,322 at 7.20am AEDT.
On Wall Street, results were mixed at the closing bell at 4pm: the Dow Jones was up by 0.1%, but the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq fell by 0.2% and 0.5%, respectively. In terms of individual stocks, BHP (ASX:BHP) and Rio saw gains of 1.6% and 0.7%, while Atlassian dropped by 4.4%. Tech giants also saw mixed results, with Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) recording gains, while Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Nvidia, and Meta showed losses.
In the commodities market, Brent crude rose by 2.7% to $US84.11 a barrel, while spot gold increased by 0.6% to $US2172.09 per ounce. However, iron ore prices fell by 3.6% to $US105.35 a tonne.
In terms of 10-year yield, the U.S. stood at 4.19%, Australia at 4.01%, and Germany at 2.36%.
On the local agenda, New Zealand's net migration data for January will be released at 8.45am. Internationally, the U.S. will release its retail sales and Producer Price Index (PPI) data for February at 11.30pm, followed by January's business inventories data at 1am on Friday AEDT.
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