The Australia share market is poised to open lower today following broad falls on Wall Street as bond yields kept rising amid anticipation that the U.S. Federal Reserve will lift interest rates this quarter.
Wall Street
It was mostly a sea of red as the Dow shed 163 points to close 0.45 per cent lower at 36,067.75 while the S&P 500 was off 0.14 per cent to close at 4,670.28. The Nasdaq staged a weak late rally to end the session six points higher at 14,942.83.
Stocks came off their lows in afternoon trading and the 10-year Treasury yield dipped back below 1.8%. At its lowest point on Monday, the Nasdaq was more than 9% below its record closing high from November, putting it on the verge of a correction.
Among the better performers overnight, Moderna shares traded nearly 20 per cent higher on news the company is working on a booster shot that will target the Omicron variant of COVID-19 as nations around the world prepare to distribute annual vaccinations against the virus. Moderna has signed advanced purchase agreements, with the United Kingdom, South Korea and Switzerland recently ordering shots with upfront payments worth US$18.5 billion.
Overnight, the price of bitcoin fell to its lowest point since September, as the spectre of rising rates continues tempting investors to eschew risky, growth-focused assets.
Coin Metrics charts show Bitcoin fell as much as 6% to touch a low of US$39,771.91 but has since reclaimed some of its losses. It later traded about 2% lower at US$41,633.16. Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, also took back losses. It tumbled as low as $2,940 in the morning and later was 4% lower at US$3,051.58.
In London, the FTSE 100 ended 0.5 percent or 40 points lower on Monday after the U.K. government told developers they must pay the estimated £4 billion ($7.6 billion) cost of fixing the cladding on buildings between 11 meters and 18 meters in height, or face legal action and potentially a new tax to raise the money.
Australian outlook
The SPI futures index is down 41 points (0.5 per cent) with the market expected to open around 7,299 points.
Commodities
The gold price is back above US$1800 an ounce having gained 0.24 per cent overnight to close at US$1,801.25 an ounce.
Platinum lost ground at US$944.00, and silver was flat at US$22.46 an ounce.
Iron ore was unchanged at US$126.21 a tonne while Brent crude was lower at US$80.99 a barrel.
Currency
The Australian dollar was trading slightly lower against the greenback overnight at US$0.7176, €0.6334, £0.5286 and NZ$1.061.
Happy Tuesday.