Yesterday the S&P/ASX200 had a very ordinary trading session. The index finished up 0.1 point to close at 4,820.00. The trading day started with the index higher, however when the home lending data was released for the month of February, the market saw a sell-off.
Economists were predicting an increase of 2%. Already, market ‘experts’ are suggesting that the 7.9% drop in housing finance will prevent the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) increasing interest rates in April.
Overnight in America, the US had a choppy trading session as well. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 2 points to 10,567.33. The major banks in the US were all higher for the day.
Paul Atkinson, deputy head of US Equities at Aberdeen Asset Management suggested “There’s probably a little bit of altitude sickness at these levels”, referring to the current rally of the US market. He added “Normally you’d think if a market’s moved this much, aren’t we due for some sort of correction?”
In the UK, the FTSE was higher by 38 points, finishing at 5,640.57. A strong opening in the US, higher commodity prices and China’s positive trade data woke the Footsie up from its afternoon slumber.
The Nikkei closed down 3 points to 10,563.92.
The price of spot gold in Australian dollars is trading at $1,211.76 while in US Dollars it is trading at $1,108.57. The price of silver in Aussie dollars is $18.60 and in US Dollars it is $17.02.
The Aussie dollar versus the US dollar is USD$0.9154, against the Japanese Yen JPY82.84
Crude Oil closed at USD$81.95
For the biggest movers on the market yesterday click here…
That’s all I have for you today. See you tomorrow.
Shae.
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