Global Market Report - 7 September
Australian shares look set to open lower on the back of a mixed performance on Wall Street overnight, as tech stocks stumbled, led by chipmakers and concerns about increased regulation of social media companies.
Australia
Australian shares look set to open lower on the back of a mixed performance on Wall Street overnight, as tech stocks stumbled, led by chipmakers and concerns about increased regulation of social media companies.
Meanwhile, the world is holding its breath as the deadline looms for the US to pull the trigger on tariffs targeting US$200 billion ($278 billion) of Chinese imports.
In futures trading, the SPI futures contract was down 25 points, or 0.41 per cent, to 6120 points at 8.30am. The Australian dollar was buying US71.97 cents, from US71.69 cents yesterday.
It comes after the Australian sharemarket yesterday posted its biggest one-day fall since March.
On Wall Street the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 20.88 points, or 0.08 per cent at 25,995 points, while the S&P500 was down 10.55 points or 0.37 per cent at 2878 points.
The tech-heavy NASDAQ index ended down 72.44 points or 0.91 per cent at 7922 points.
Locally, National Australia Bank says it is working to rebuild customer trust after becoming the first player in the financial services industry to face court action over charging fees for no service.
NAB could incur millions of dollars in fines after charging hundreds of thousands of superannuation customers $100 million in fees for services they did not receive.
Asia
Asian markets fell Thursday on amid fears over the escalating US-China trade dispute.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 0.4 per cent to 22,492.32, and the Kospi in South Korea dropped 0.1 per cent to 2288.89.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng tumbled 1.2 per cent to 26,911.65. The Shanghai Composite index was 0.7 per cent lower at 2686.81.
Europe
European shares dropped to their lowest level in five months on Thursday as worries over trade weighed and tech stocks came under pressure.
In a volatile session which saw the STOXX 600 seesaw in and out of positive and negative territory, the pan-European benchmark ended 0.6 per cent lower.
Losses in emerging markets and fears over the trade dispute rattled investors.
North America
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq declined as the possibility of more US tariffs on Chinese imports loomed, while tech stocks stumbled, led by chipmakers and concerns about increased regulation of social media companies.
The public comment period for proposed tariffs on an additional $US200 billion worth of Chinese imports ends on Friday US time, and the tariffs could go into effect shortly afterward.
China has warned of retaliation if Washington implements any new tariff measures.
On a more positive note, talks between the US and Canada to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement continued.
The muddled outlook for trade was reflected in the mixed outcome for US stocks on Thursday, investors said. The Dow edged up even as the S&P and Nasdaq fell.
Shares of chipmakers and internet companies weighed on the S&P and Nasdaq.
The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index slid 2.7 per cent after executives from Micron Technology and KLA-Tencor Corp spoke at a Citi technology conference.
Micron shares sank 9.9 per cent and were among the biggest drags on the Nasdaq and the S&P. KLA-Tencor shares tumbled 9.7 per cent.
Fallout from the scrutiny of social media companies also continued to batter tech stocks.
On Wednesday, executives from Facebook and Twitter testified before sceptical US politicians regarding their measures to combat foreign efforts to influence US politics.
The same day, the US Justice Department said it was looking into concerns that social media platforms were "intentionally stifling the free exchange of ideas."
Facebook shares fell 2.8 per cent and Twitter shares dropped 5.9 per cent. Shares of Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, touched a record low and ended down 3.1 per cent.
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Lex Hall is content editor, Morningstar Australia
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