OPENING CALL: The Australian share market is to open lower.
OPENING CALL: The Australian share market is to open lower.
The U.S. ordered the abrupt closure of the Chinese Consulate in Houston, accusing China of extensive interference in domestic affairs and intellectual-property theft, an escalation of bilateral tensions that Beijing called outrageous and unprecedented.
The State Department, in a statement on the closure, accused China of conducting “massive illegal spying and influence operations throughout the United States against U.S. government officials and American citizens,” and said such activities have increased in recent years.
Australian Market
Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 closed 1.3% lower at 6075.1, giving up some of the previous day’s gains amid a record number of new local coronavirus cases.
US Market
A climb in shares of Pfizer boosted the Dow Jones Industrial Average after the U.S. government agreed to pay the drugmaker and partner BioNTech to secure doses of their experimental Covid-19 vaccine. The blue-chip index closed about 165 points, or 0.6%, higher. The S&P 500 also added 0.6%, while the Nasdaq Composite edged up 0.2%. Pfizer shares rose 5.1%, leading the Dow.
Commodities
Gold and silver rose further, with silver ending at its highest since 2013, getting a boost from rising tensions between the U.S. and China. Gold for August delivery on Comex rose nearly 1.2%. FactSet data based on the most-active contracts show prices settled at their highest since September 2011. September silver surged 7.4% to end at $23.144 an ounce. The most-active contract finished at its highest since September 2013, a day after posting a more than six-year high.
Oil Futures
U.S. benchmark oil prices settled virtually unchanged, slipping 0.05% as a weak dollar offset a bearish weekly EIA report that showed a large rise in U.S. oil inventories, an increase in U.S. oil production and a decline in gasoline demand.
Forex
European sharemarkets closed lower on Wednesday on rising USChina tensions. A rise in global coronavirus cases also weighed on sentiment. Energy lost 2.8%, autos fell 1.3% and healthcare lost 1.3%.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell by 0.9% The German Dax index fell by 0.5% from 5-month highs. And the UK FTSE index fell by 1.0%. In London trade shares in Rio Tinto fell by 0.5% and shares in BHP fell by 0.9%.
European Markets
The Euro rose from lows near US$1.1510 to highs near US$1.1600 and was near US$1.1570 at the US close. The Aussie dollar rose from lows near US71.10 cents to highs near US71.80 cents and was near US71.40 cents at the US close. The Japanese yen eased from levels near 106.75 yen per US dollar to JPY107.30 and was near JPY107.20 at the US close.
Asian Markets
Earlier, China’s major stock-market indexes closed a tad higher, rising for the fourth consecutive session. The Shanghai Composite Index closed 0.4% higher to settle at 3333.16, while the smaller Shenzhen Composite Index gained 0.8% and the startup-heavy ChiNext Price Index rose 1.2%. Consumer-goods stocks, including beer brewers and dairy firms, led the gains.
Japanese stocks ended lower, dragged by falls in electronics and pharmaceutical stocks, as caution over earnings remained ahead of big companies’ results in coming weeks.
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