Morning Bell 21 January

Wall St was closed overnight due to the Martin Luther King Jr public holiday whilst Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 47th president of the United States.

Over in Europe, markets closed slightly higher as investors react to Donald Trump being sworn in as the US president. The STOXX600 closed 0.05% higher with mining stocks leading gains up 1.2%. Germany’s DAX rose by 0.42%, the French CAC jumped 0.31% and over in the UK the FTSE100 climbed 0.18%.

Locally yesterday, the ASX200 rose by 0.45% with most major sectors closing in the green. Gains were led by the information technology and real estate sectors which rose by 1.13% and 0.78% respectively. This was offset by the energy sector which fell by over half a percent by the closing bell.

What to watch today:

• The Australian share market is set to open higher, with the SPI futures suggesting a rise of 0.34% at market open this morning.
• On the commodities front this morning,
   
  • Oil is trading 1.83% lower at 76 US dollars and 45 cents a barrel as markets reacted to Donald Trump’s pledge to expand domestic crude production. 
  • Gold is trading 0.18% higher at 2705 US dollars an ounce and iron ore is trading 0.72% higher at 101 US dollars and 21 cents a tonne.

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter maintains a buy rating on Genusplus Group (ASX:GNP) and keeps an unchanged 12-month price target of $3.10. The buy rating has been maintained by Bell Potter as GNP has been awarded a new $140m contract by Ausgrid for sub-transmission line works at the Hunter-Central Coast Renewable Energy Zone project. The contract award is material and bolsters GNP’s orderbook in the medium term, hence the buy rating is maintained.
• And Trading Central has identified a bullish signal on Beacon Lighting Group (ASX:BLX), indicating that the share price may rise from the close of $3.05 to the range of $3.60-$3.70, on a pattern formed over 70 days, according to the standard principles of technical analysis.