Advertisement

Markets Live: ASX up on miners, banks fall

Loading Chart...

US crude oil prices fluctuated slightly overnight on the news that President Trump would impose sanctions on Iran

The price fell in the hours before Trump's announcement as federal government forecasters raised their 2018 estimate for oil price to $US65.58 a barrel, a rise of 10.5 per cent.

Prices returned again following Trump's announcement although there will be more movement on oil in the next few months.

No one is sure just how high oil prices will go however once sanctions are defined a much clearer picture will emerge.

The Treasury said on Tuesday that sanctions against Iran's oil trade wouldn't be imposed against Islamic Republic for another six months.

Commonwealth Bank's trading update shows that underlying operating income for the quarter has decreased by 4 per cent.

Underlying operating expense increased by 3 per cent driven by regulatory and compliance project spends.

The company's assets under management also fell by 3 per cent in what was a disappointing quarter for the bank.

Commonwealth Bank's shares are currently down 2.8 per cent at $71.44.

Australian shares have opened higher this morning with mining and energy companies up inside early trade.

The S&P/ASX 200 index has risen 13.5 points to 6,105.4, a gain of 0.2 per cent.

BHP Billiton, Woodside Petroleum, Newcrest, Rio Tinto, South32 and Santos are all among the market leaders this morning.

The major banks are lagging this morning, with Commonwealth Bank the hardest hit, down 2.7 per cent.

CYBG is up 6 per cent in trade this morning.

Greencross has fallen 17.5 per cent inside the opening few minutes of trade on a trading update.

President Donald Trump has pulled the United States out of the Iran deal, one of the biggest foreign policy moves of his presidency and a decision that will have repercussions in every corner of the globe.

After months of threatening that he would abandon what he called "the worst deal ever made", Trump confirmed the seemingly inevitable at 2pm on Tuesday (4am Wednesday AEST).

"It didn't bring calm, it didn't bring peace and it never will," Trump said on Tuesday as he announced his decision to withdraw.

"It is clear to me that we cannot prevent an Iranian nuclear bomb under the decaying and rotten structure of the current agreement. The Iran deal is defective at its core. If we do nothing, we know exactly what will happen."

Rachel Olding has the full story here.

Advertisement

Here are the overnight market highlights for you:

SPI futures up 5 points at 6088 at 7.00am AEST

AUD trading at US74.50 cents

On Wall St: Dow unchanged, S&P 500 steady, Nasdaq unchanged

In Europe: Stoxx 50 -0.2%, FTSE unchanged, CAC -0.2%, DAX -0.3%

Spot gold +0.2% at $US1316.14 an ounce

Brent crude -0.7% at $US75.66 a barrel

Iron ore -0.7% at $US66.80 a tonne

SPONSORED POST

The morning after the budget, the local sharemarket is set to inch higher at the open, writes Tyler Yell.

The big event of the week was the Australian Treasuries budget announcement that undershot the already dovish RBA. Where the RBA sees the economy accelerating by 3.25% in 2018-2019, the Treasury's key budget GDP forecast is set at 2.75%.

A key announcement and relief from a recent concern for banks and the economy as a whole was $14B in tax cuts over the coming years to help the over-leveraged consumer per the RBA's Household debt to income ratio.

The announcement of tax relief may also help the banks who would likely see the credit loss reserve reduced on such a development.

Whatever the boost, the primary concern remains for financials, which is The Royal Commission on banking practices that is acting as a weight on the index's highest weight sector.

Read the full 8@eight here.

Good morning and welcome to the Markets Live blog for Wednesday.

Your editor today is William McInnes.

This blog is not intended as investment advice.

Fairfax Media with wires.