Pre-Open Data
Key Data for the Week
Australian Market
The Australian sharemarket closed 0.9% lower yesterday, adding to the two previous days of losses. All sectors except for Health Care closed lower, with Information Technology slumped to a 4.7% loss.
Following the recent sell-off in the US, the Information Technology sector fell to a seven-month low with buy-now-pay-later favourites Afterpay and Zip, conceding 5.4% and 1.2% respectively. Accounting software provider Xero lost 13.0% in the day’s trade, despite increasing their subscriber base by 20.0%. The reason for the severe drop in share price was due to the fact that their earnings were 21.0% below the expectation set by JP Morgan.
The Materials sector also closed lower, weakened by losses in Fortescue Metals (-4.1%), BHP (-1.3%) and Rio Tinto (-1.6%). Goldminers also felt the effect of overall market volatility, as Northern Star Resources and Evolution Mining both fell 2.0%.
The Health Care sector bucked the downward trend to close 1.0% higher. CSL and Sonic Healthcare added 1.2% and 0.9% respectively, while Ramsay Health Care recorded a 0.6% gain.
The Australian futures market points to a 0.67% gain today, driven higher by stronger overseas markets.
Overseas Markets
European sharemarkets closed lower overnight, weakened by a fall in commodity prices. As a result, Glencore fell 2.6%, while London-listed BHP Group and Rio Tinto dropped 4.0% and 3.7% respectively. The Financials sector also fell, with Deutsche Bank shedding 0.1% and ING Groep slipping 1.8%.
At the close of the session, the German DAX gained 0.3% and the STOXX Europe 600 fell 0.1%, while the UK FTSE 100 conceded 0.6%.
US sharemarkets lifted on Thursday, after falling for three consecutive days, with investors pushing aside inflationary fears for now. The Utilities sector posted a notable gain, buoyed by the news that COVID-19 restrictions had been eased. As a result, American Airlines and Delta Airlines both posted a 2.2% gain, while Boeing closed 0.8% higher. The Information Technology sector also lifted; Apple added 1.8%, Microsoft rose 1.7% and Alphabet closed 1.0% higher.
By the close of trade, the Dow Jones added 1.3% and the S&P 500 lifted 1.2%, while the NASDAQ gained 0.7%.
CNIS Perspective
The return to a pre-pandemic normal is gaining momentum in the US, as the number of new COVID-19 cases decline with the vaccination push shifting to a more targeted phase.
Approximately 45% of Americans over the age of 18 are now fully vaccinated and around 60% have received at least one dose of vaccine, with a new federal target of 70% by early July looking likely to be achieved.
The seven-day average of daily new cases has now dropped below 40,000, a level not seen since September, and down from a peak of 250,000 in early January.
The increased vaccination push by the Biden administration is bolstering reopening efforts, with 28 of the 50 states now fully reopened.
As vaccination rollouts continue, it would appear the US is now in control of the virus.
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