Morning Bell 17 September

The US overnight saw a decline with all 3 of the major indexes closing in the red, as investors take some profits ahead of the Fed’s highly anticipated rate decision. The S&P500 closed down 0.13%, the Nasdaq fell 0.07% and the Dow Jones saw the biggest decline, ending the day down 0.27%

Across European markets overnight it was a sea of red with the STOXX 600 falling 1.2%, while Germany’s DAX tumbled 1.8%, the French CAC fell 1% and, in the UK, the FTSE100 ended the day down 0.88%. 

Asian markets closed Tuesday’s session higher as progress on trade talks between China and the US continued to boost investor sentiment for a second session in the region. Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.3% to top 45,000 index points for the first time ever, while South Korea’s Kospi index rose 1.24% to also reset its record high, India’s Nifty 50 also gained 0.68% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended the day flat. 

The local market started the new trading week lower before recovering ground to close 0.28% higher on Tuesday as a surge in energy and discretionary stocks offset weakness among healthcare stocks. 

Investors welcomed comments out of the RBA on Tuesday signalling Australia’s central bank has nearly achieved its inflation goal, successfully bringing inflation close to target while maintaining low unemployment and easing cost-of-living pressures, with wages now outpacing prices.

Super Retail Group (ASX:SUL) fell 4.3% on Tuesday after the managing director and CEO was let go over a personal event.

What to watch today:

• On the commodities front this morning: 
  • Oil is trading 1.92% higher at US$64.52/barrel
  • Gold is up 0.3% at US$3689/ounce 
  • Iron ore is up 0.1% at US$105.42/tonne
• Ahead of the midweek trading session the SPI futures are anticipating the ASX will open the day down 0.45% tracking Wall Street’s sell-off on Tuesday.

Trading ideas:

• Bell Potter have maintained their buy rating on gold miner Alkane Resources (ASX:ALK), and increased their 12-month target price to $1.45 per share off the back of its recently completed merger with Canadian listed gold producer Mandalay Resources. At it current share price  of around $1 per share, this implies a 45% share price growth in a year. 
• And Trading Central have identified a bullish signal in Universal Store Holdings (ASX:UNI), indicating that the share price may rise from the close of $8.50 per share to the range of $11.20 to $11.80 per share over a period of 229 days according to the standard principles of technical analysis.