Australia Market gains 0.6%

Headline indices of the Australia market were higher on Tuesday, 11 September 2018, as investors continued hunting for beaten down stocks following losses last week. Meanwhile bargain buying was also supported by gains in Wall Street overnight. However, upside move was capped amid lingering concerns on trade frictions and turmoil in emerging markets. Almost all ASX sectors inclined, with shares of energy, telecom, financials, and information technology issues being notable gainers. In late-afternoon trades, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 36.20 points, or 0.6%, at 6,177.90 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index advanced 37.70 points, or 0.6%, at 6,287.40 points.

Investors were bracing for the next step in the U.S.-China trade dispute after the Trump administration signaled it's ready to impose tariffs on even more goods imported into the U.S. On last Friday, US President Donald Trump said he was ready to levy additional taxes on practically all Chinese imports, threatening duties on $267 billion of goods over and above planned tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese products. China said it will respond if Washington takes any new steps on trade.

 

Adding to the tensions, data out Friday showed China's trade surplus with the United States widened to a record in August, an outcome that could further inflame Sino-U.S. trade tensions. Trump, who is challenging China, Mexico, Canada and the European Union on trade issues, has now expressed displeasure about his country's large trade deficit with Japan. He said on Friday trade discussions with Japan has begun and added that India has also asked to start talks on a trade deal.

Shares of energy sector were higher, bolstered by jump in crude oil prices overnight. WTI crude for October delivery edged down $0.02 to settle at $67.75 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In energy space, Whitehaven Coal jumped almost 6 per cent, while Origin Energy firmed 4%.

Shares of banks and financials were higher on bargain hunting, with Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, Macquarie Group,and ANZ Banking were up in a range of 1% to 4%.

Health care stocks fell after leading gains in the previous session, putting a lid on the benchmark's rise. Resmed and CSL fell in a range of 0.5% to 2%.

CURRENCY: Australian Dollar fell against greenback and other major currencies on Tuesday, as the NAB data released a few minutes ago showed the business conditions index ticked higher to 15 in August as expected from the previous month's print of 12, but the business confidence reading fell to 4 from the July figure of 7. The Australian currency is down more than 12 percent from the yearly high of 0.8136 in January and could extend the decline towards 0.6827 (February 2016 low) if the US President Trump opts for an all-out war against China. The AUD/USD pair fell to 0.7092 in Asia, the lowest level since February 2016, and was last seen trading at 0.71.

OFFSHORE MARKET NEWS, US stock market closed mixed on Monday, as traders seemed reluctant to make any significant moves amid a lack of major U.S. economic data and lingering trade concerns after President Donald Trump ramped up trade tensions with China last Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 59.47 points or 0.2% to 25,857.07, while the Nasdaq rose 21.62 points or 0.3% to 7,924.16 and the S&P 500 inched up 5.45 points or 0.2% to 2,877.13.

The major European stock markets ended higher on Monday. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index closed just above the unchanged line, the German DAX Index edged up by 0.2% and the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.3%.

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