Morning Bell 20 August

Between the Bells

Wall St closed higher overnight as the Nasdaq rallies for its 8th straight session. The Dow Jones closed over half a percent higher, the S&P 500 closed 1% in the green and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rallied 1.39% overnight.

Over in Europe, markets closed higher on Monday following the global market rally last week. The STOXX600 ended the trading session 0.64% higher with all sector ending in positive territory. Gains were led by mining and retail stocks, up 1.98% and 1.57% respectively. Germany’s DAX closed over half a percent in the green, the French CAC added 0.7% and over in the UK the FTSE100 gained 0.55%.

Locally yesterday, the ASX200 ended Monday’s trading session 0.12% higher. Gains were led by the utilities and financial sectors which gained 1.67%and 0.82% respectively. This was offset by the consumer staples sector which fell 0.83% by the closing bell.

What to watch today:

• The Australian share market is set to open higher, with the SPI futures suggesting a rise of 0.45% at market open this morning.
• On the commodity front this morning,
  • Oil is trading 4.75% lower at 73 US dollars a barrel as ongoing cease-fire talks in Gaza could ease geopolitical tensions, hence reduce the risk premium on oil.
  • Gold is trading 0.16% lower at 2503 US dollars an ounce and iron ore is trading 0.75% lower at 97 US dollars and 81 cents a tonne.

Trading Idea:

• Bell Potter maintains a buy rating on Adacel Technologies (ASX:ADA) and has a 12-month price target of $0.65. The buy rating is maintained by Bell Potter following the release of results where normalised FY24 EBITDA of $1.1m US dollars was better than Bell Potter’s forecast of $900,000 US dollars and the downgraded guidance given in July. There was a reduction in the earnings forecast which has caused a 13% reduction in the price target, however it is still a 15% premium to the share price, hence the buy rating is maintained.