Good morning!
David Chau from the ABC business team here, bringing you the latest market news.
The local share market has begun its day practically flat, despite significant falls on Wall Street, European markets and oil prices.
This is what’s happening so far:
- The ASX 200 is down 0.1 per cent, to 7,143 points
- The Australian dollar is buying 66.9 US cents (up 0.1 per cent)
- Spot gold is steady at $US1,792 an ounce
Investors are trading cautiously, with no sign of a “Santa rally” just yet.
That’s after the world’s major central banks (in particular, the US Federal Reserve) indicated they’re prepared to keeping lifting interest rates, in a desperate bid to bring inflation down —and potentially cause a global recession.
Here’s how overseas markets (and oil prices) fared last Friday:
- Wall Street: Dow Jones (-0.9%), S&P 500 (-1.1%), Nasdaq (-1%)
- European stocks: FTSE (-1.3%), DAX (-0.7%), CAC (-1.1%)
- Brent crude oil down 2.7% to $US79.04 a barrel
