Local Markets Commentary

The Australian market commences a new week’s trade on uninspiring international equities sentiment but positive moves for some key commodities. Domestic corporate reporting season continues unabated.

Overnight Friday, oil extended Thursday’s gain with a decisive rally. Iron ore achieved a rally for a second consecutive session. US gold futures and LME copper settled slightly lower.

The $A was pushed a little higher after trading at ~US79.20c early Friday evening.

Locally today, a weekly capital city house price report is due pre-trade.

The CBA will also publish a business sales report based on card transactions, and the Conference Board a leading index update.

Overseas Market Commentary

Major European and US equities markets chopped through overnight Friday trade, amid international security disquiet and further speculation regarding the US administration’s ability to progress its domestic economic agenda and support global trade.

The US also commenced a formal investigation into China’s investment and trade policies associated with intellectual property, following a review announced last week to determine if an investigation was warranted.

Earlier, China had published an official list of prohibited and restricted international investment for the nation’s corporate sector. This was viewed as an attempt to further encourage domestic private sector investment.

Meanwhile, the US, South Korea and allies prepared for this week’s scheduled yearly military exercises.

In scant data releases, the University of Michigan’s preliminary August US consumer sentiment estimate represented a 4.2-point rise from July’s final reading, to 97.6.

Tonight in the US, the Chicago Fed national activity index is due.