Upbeat Wall St sets positive tone for antipodes; Synlait earnings loom

 Australian futures are pointing to a positive start to the week for the S&P/ASX 200 index when trading opens across the Tasman as stocks on Wall Street snapped a three-day decline on Friday, with upcoming US jobs data the next piece in the puzzle for investors pondering the Federal Reserve’s rate track.

Across the Atlantic, Spanish stocks outperformed in the upbeat session after the three major credit rating agencies upgraded their ratings on the nation as a recovering labour market, resurgent tourism and a flood of new migrants has bolstered growth.

Back home, Synlait Milk is poised to announce its annual result, hot on the heels of another strong performance from its much larger rival Fonterra Cooperative Group, with the milk processor’s bottom line expected to breakeven as underlying earnings more than double.

And Trans-Tasman Resources-parent Manuka Resources will take up a secondary listing on the NZX today, giving its swelling New Zealand shareholding base an easier route to invest in the would-be ironsands miner.

And they’re off

Australian futures are pointing to a 0.2% gain for the ASX200 when trading opens across the Tasman and the kiwi dollar remained under pressure, trading at 57.76 US cents at 7am in Auckland from 57.69 cents last week after US and European stock markets were broadly stronger on Friday.

US consumer inflation figures were in line with expectations on Friday, with investors turning their minds to non-farm payrolls figures on Friday, which are expected to show the world’s biggest economy added 39,000 jobs in September, with the unemployment rate tipped to stay at 4.3%.

Upward revisions to US growth last week prompted some analysts to rethink whether the Federal Reserve will cut its key interest rate as aggressively as previously thought.

The S&P 500 rose 0.6% on Friday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.7%.

The Oct 1 deadline to avoid a US federal government shutdown is also in view for investors, with US President Donald Trump to meet congressional leaders on Monday to cut a deal.

Across the Atlantic, the UK’s FTSE 100 advanced 0.5% and Germany’s DAX 30 gained 0.9%. Spain’s IBEX 35 outperformed the rest of the continent, rising 1.3% after Fitch Ratings and Moody’s Investor Services followed S&P Global in upgrading the nation’s credit rating.

We’re going to Ibiza

Spain’s economy has enjoyed a renaissance as a recovery in tourism has been joined by increased foreign investment and swelling inward migration in fuelling the fastest growth in the euro zone. The kiwi traded at 49.34 euro cents from 49.40 cents last week.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin was up 0.7% at US$110,261 at 7am in Auckland, with Bloomberg reporting crypto exchange Kraken is in advanced talks to raise US$200 million-to-US$300 million, valuing the firm at US$20 billion.

The kiwi dollar was unchanged at 88.20 Australian cents with the Reserve Bank of Australia’s monetary policy review due on Tuesday, with the central bank expected to keep the target cash rate at 3.6%.

New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 index dropped 0.9% last week in its first weekly decline since the end of August, with a handful of companies still carrying dividends.

Outside the benchmark, Synlait Milk is scheduled to report its annual earnings today, having flagged an expectation to break even on the bottom line, and more than double underlying earnings having gone through the most painful part of its restructuring. Investors will be watching for any update on the future of its Pokeno site.

Being AI and Metro Performance Glass are holding their annual meetings today, while local data include filled jobs for the month of August.

And ASX-listed Manuka Resources will make its debut on New Zealand’s stock exchange with a secondary listing. The parent of would-be ironsands minder Trans-Tasman Resources has about 30% of its shares owned by New Zealanders.

Reporting by Paul McBeth. Image from Allef Vinicius on Unsplash.