Share prices in Australia will need to follow Monday’s pattern if they are to finish higher for a second successive day on Tuesday.
Future trading indicated a lower opening by the S&P/ASX 200 index at 10am AEDT (11pm GMT Monday) as the earnings reporting season continues its final week.
This followed a mixed performance on Wall Street as investors tried to put behind them a week of prices declines with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 0.1%, the S&P 500 dropping 1.2% and the Nasdaq Composite losing 0.8% on Monday.
At 9:55 am AEDT (10:55 pm GMT Monday) the March share price index (SPI) contract was trading 63 points (0.76%) lower than the previous settlement at 8,279.
The S&P/ASX 200 had ended slightly higher at 8,308.2 on Monday but only after paring back earlier losses after a weaker opening.
Stocks to watch today include companies with the largest movements yesterday and those publishing their results, mostly for the six months to 31 December, today.
Eyes will be on stocks that fell sharply like WiseTech Global (ASX: WTC), IRESS (ASX: IRE), Reece (ASX: REH) and Block (ASX: XYZ) and risers such as Event (ASX: EVT).
The market was reacting to WiseTech’s boardroom exodus and recent results from IRESS, Reece, Block and Event.
Among the companies reporting are Nine Entertainment (ASX: NEC) and Woodside Petroleum (ASX: WPL).
On the bond markets, the 10-year and two-year Treasury yields easing by 0.36% and 1.14% to 4.431% and 3.383%, respectively.
