• The Australian market is hanging on to improvements by a thread with the ASX 200 up by just 1 point. Local shares are firmer for the second day after hitting a 3.5 month low on Wednesday. Unless buyers step in decisively this afternoon, local shares will end around 1.2 per cent lower this week.
  • Oroton Group (ORL) is down 12 per cent after downgrading its earnings guidance. The upmarket retailer said it no longer expects profits to grow over the 2H of the year, with its strategy to cease heavy discounting backfiring on the Australian brand. ORL also owns the Brooks Brothers and Gap brands in Australia/New Zealand.
  • James Hardie (JHX) is down 1.1 per cent after surging by more than 11 per cent yesterday. The building products maker more than tripled its annual profit, helped by sales growth in the US, Europe and Australia together with a weaker Australian dollar.
  • Energy stocks are doing best thanks to a 3 per cent jump in oil prices overnight. Mining shares are firmer despite a weaker iron ore price, which fell by 0.3 per cent overnight to US$57.6/tonne.
  • XPD Soccer Group (XPD) is up 2.6 per cent after making its ASX debut on Thursday. XPD is a $140m sportswear business operating in China, with a particular focus on soccer. Its shares have doubled on the local market since making a debut yesterday.
  • Australian Finance Group (AFG) floated today at $1.20/share. The $257m mortgage broking firm has over 2,300 brokers nationwide.
  • No major economic news is due for release in Australia or the region today.
  • Tonight is set to be a busy session for economic data and speeches. Federal Reserve Chief Janet Yellen will be speaking at 3am AEST, with any clues about potential rate hikes important. The heads of the European, UK and Japanese central banks are all giving talks over the next 24 hours. Manufacturing data will be issued in France, Germany, the broader euro zone and the US tonight.
  • The Australian dollar buys US$0.791, €0.71, £0.504 and ¥95.6.
  • Volume is above average at lunch, with 1.05bn shares traded worth $1.9bn. 443 stocks are up, 391 down and 328 unchanged.

Steven Daghlian - Market Analyst (Author)

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