The S&P/ASX200 has dropped on opening, currently down 18.6 points to 6188.9 points.
The consumer discretionary index has the largest percentage drop, down half a percent, closely followed by the financial index and utilities. Currently consumer staples is the only sector rising.
ASX has released a list of companies that did not meet the 28 September deadline for full year results and are temporarily suspended as a result.
Predictive Discovery (PDI) put out a notice saying they were just "working with its auditors to resolve some outstanding technical accounting issues which the company is confident will be resolved in the next few days".
Rio Tinto could be waiting up to nine months for the proceeds of its Grasberg copper divestment to flow through, despite clearing a significant hurdle on the transaction in recent days. Indonesian state-owned company PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Inalum) signed binding agreements with Rio and its partner Freeport McMoran to reshape the ownership structure of the mine, under a deal that will give Inalum majority ownership and Rio $US3.5 billion in cash proceeds.
But the "binding" deals were said to be conditional on further approvals, including from anti-trust regulators in several nations.
Peter Ker has the full story here.
Technology columnist John McDuling has a piece about Atlassian today, answering one question no one wants to ask: What does it actually make?
Atlassian mogul Mike Cannon-Brookes bought the most expensive piece of residential real estate in Australia, paying $100 million for Fairwater, a sprawling Sydney estate previously owned by the Fairfax dynasty.
Yet, while their company is the nation's greatest tech success story to date, few outside of the software development community understand what it is, or what it does. That certainly wasn't the case with their predecessors in media, finance and mining. So what is all the fuss about?
Atlassian can be thought of as the technology company for technologists. It makes software that is used primarily by software developers and IT departments. It sounds dry - it is certainly not the most glamorous corner of the tech industry. But as software infiltrates every industry, and as tech culture increasingly infiltrates business culture, it is not a bad place to be. Last week its share price closed at fresh highs in the US, pushing its market value up to $US22.7 billion ($31.4 billion).
It means that if Atlassian was listed on the ASX, rather than the Nasdaq, it would be comfortably among the top 20 most valuable companies on the local exchange.
A 12-day journey by sea from the west coast to the east is dramatically re-drawing how Australia's grains industry works.In response to the devastating drought that has wiped millions of tonnes off production in growing regions of eastern Australia, ship after ship loaded with grain are making their way from West Australia to the east coast, to meet demand on this side of the country, Darren Gray reports.
Over preceding years, Australia's east coast grains industry, which covers New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, has typically exported grain to world markets. It normally does this as well as supplying the eastern seaboard with wheat used as animal stockfeed, barley used to make beer and wheat for human consumption of flour and other products. But this year's drought, which has been described as the worst in a century in some areas, is expected to cause a shortfall on the eastern seaboard and has caused the dramatic shift in how the grains industry works.
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SPI futures down 23 points or 0.4% to 6171 on Saturday morning
AUD +0.2% to 72.29 US cents
On Wall St: Dow +0.1% S&P 500 flat Nasdaq +0.1%
In New York, BHP +0.6% Rio -0.6% Atlassian +0.3%
In Europe: Stoxx 50 -1.5% FTSE -0.5% CAC -0.9% DAX -1.5%
Spot gold +0.7% to $US1190.88 an ounce 5pm New York Friday
Brent crude +1.2% to $US82.72 a barrel
US oil +1.6% to $US73.25 a barrel
Iron ore +0.8% to $US69.24 a tonne
Dalian iron ore -1.1% to 495.50 yuan
LME aluminium +1.6% to $US2062 a tonne
LME copper +1.2% to $US6258 a tonne
2-year yield: US 2.82% Australia 2.03%
5-year yield: US 2.95% Australia 2.23%
10-year yield: US 3.06% Australia 2.66% Germany 0.47% Italy 3.14% Greece 4.12%
US-Australia 10-year yield gap: 40 basis points
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The local sharemarket is set to open lower on the back of a tepid Friday session on Wall Street. SPI futures are indicating a 23-point drop at the open for the ASX200 this morning, effectively wiping Friday's solid gains. It comes as no surprise, really, with the lion's share of activity centring around the embattled financial sector.
Bank stocks underpinned the rally on the ASX on Friday, led by CBA, in signs that the market believed the sector's recent trend lower was overdone. It may be a case of jumping the gun for traders on that one, as sentiment appears sour once more following the weekend's release of the Financial Services Royal Commission interim report. The materials and energy sector did its bit on Friday to carry the ASX higher, courtesy of a broad-based, though modest, uptick in commodity prices; while the health care sector continued to erode its market leading YTD gains, led by a near 2 per cent fall in the CSL shares, creating drag on the overall index.
Good morning and welcome to today's Markets Live blog.
Your editor today is Lucy Battersby (lbattersby@fairfaxmedia.com.au).
This blog is not intended as financial advice.