Futures markets point to another strong day on the ASX
The S&P/ASX 200 index (XJO) made a solid start to the financial year, gaining 36 points or 0.6% to close at 5934 points.
The ASX SPI200 futures index is up 42 points to 5945 points, suggesting this positive momentum will be sustained on Thursday.
Other markets in the Asia-Pacific region were mixed with the Nikkei 225 shedding 166 points to close at 22,121 points.
The Hang Seng gained 0.5% or 125 points to close at 24,427 points.
Strong manufacturing numbers coming out of China provided a boost for the Shanghai Composite index which gained 41 points or 1.4%, pushing it through the 3000 point barrier to 3026 points.
It was a sea of red in the UK and European region with the FTSE 100 falling 0.2% to 6158 points.
The DAX also succumbed to negative sentiment, shedding 50 points to close at 12,260 points.
The CAC 40 came off 0.2%, closing at 4927 points.
It was a mixed bag in the US with the NASDAQ hitting a new record high of 10,221 points before closing at 10,154 points, a gain of nearly 100 points.
In contrast, the Dow slumped 0.3% to close at 25,784 points.
The main factors at play were encouraging manufacturing data set against below expectation employment figures.
The gold price pulled back from its US$1800 per ounce levels to close at US$1780 per ounce.
The Brent Crude Oil Continuous Contract is hovering in the vicinity of US$42 per barrel.
The iron ore price continues to hover just above US$99 per tonne.
Most base metals trended downwards but not to any great extent.
The Australian dollar is fetching US$0.69.
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