The ASX will start on a flat note this morning after a weak ending to offshore trading on Friday – hours after the strongest day’s trading in Australia for 11 months.
Eurozone shares fell 0.7% on Friday and the US S&P 500 ended down 0.1% as the US-China trade war intensified.
The soft US lead saw ASX 200 futures close weak on Friday night suggesting a flat start to trade for Australian shares later today.
The offshore weakness was in contrast to the 1.3% or 77 point gain on the ASX on Friday which helped the market to a 0.8% gain for the week.
Friday’s surge was the biggest gain since last July, and yet it was completely out of touch with what happened offshore later in the session.
For the week, US shares were flat with strong data offset by worries about a more hawkish Fed and tariffs on Chinese imports, Eurozone shares rose 1.4% as the ECB remained dovish and Italian risks receded a bit and Japanese shares rose 0.7% as the Bank of Japan also remained dovish.
Chinese shares were not helped by soft economic data for May and fell 0.7%.
Bond yields generally fell as did prices for oil and metals, but iron ore rose.
The US dollar rise to its highest since July last year and the Aussie dollar was back below 75 US cents for the first time in 11 months.
The S&P 500 closed 0.1% lower on Friday, the Dow was down 0.3% and Nasdaq eased 0.2%.
For the week, the S&P 500 eked out a tiny 0.01%, while the Dow dropped 0.9% for its worst week since late March. The Nasdaq, which closed at a record high on Thursday, ended up 1.3% by Friday’s close.
Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose for their fourth straight week, equalling their longest weekly winning streaks this year.
