On Thursday the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) fought back from a morning in the red to finish the day a fraction higher at 5,942.4 points.
Will the market be able to build on this on Friday and finish the week on a high? Here are five things to watch:
ASX futures pointing lower.
Unfortunately, the local share market looks set to finish the week on a disappointing note. According to the latest SPI future, the market is expected to open the day lower by 0.9% or 51 points on Friday. This follows a disappointing night of trade on Wall Street which saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average slide 1.3%, the S&P 500 fall 1.4%, and the Nasdaq tumble 2.1% lower.
Tech shares under pressure.
Tech shares such as Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (ASX: APT) and WiseTech Global Ltd (ASX: WTC) could come under pressure on Friday following a tech selloff on Wall Street. The FAANG stocks all sank lower due to concerns over the trade war, rising interest rates, and lingering worries about possible overvalued U.S. tech stocks, according to CNBC.
Oil prices continue to slide.
Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT) and Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) shares could trend lower again on Friday after oil prices continued to slide. According to Bloomberg, the WTI crude oil price fell 1.5% to US$68.71 a barrel and the Brent crude oil price dropped 0.9% to US$79.35 a barrel.
Shares going ex-dividend.
This morning the shares of APN Outdoor Group Ltd (ASX: APO) and New Hope Corporation Limited (ASX: NHC) are likely to trade lower after going ex-dividend for their latest payouts. Eligible APN Outdoor shareholders can look forward to receiving their dividend on October 29 and New Hope shareholders will receive theirs on November 6.
Chinese data.
Later today China is expected to reveal that its economic growth has fallen to its slowest pace since the global financial crisis. According to Bloomberg, economists are predicting that gross domestic product expanded by 6.6% during the third quarter. Things are likely to get worse for China in the coming months as President Trump's new round of tariffs come into force.
