On Wednesday the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) fought back from a weak start to finish the day 0.4% higher at 5,896.9 points.
Will the market be able to build on this on Thursday? Here are five things to watch:
ASX futures pointing higher.
According to the latest SPI futures, the ASX 200 is expected to open the day 0.5% or 30 points higher on Thursday. This follows a positive night of trade on Wall Street following a favourable outcome to the U.S. Midterm elections. The Dow Jones lifted over 1.8%, the S&P 500 rose 1.8%, and the Nasdaq climbed 2.3%.
Corporate Travel Management set to return.
The Corporate Travel Management Ltd (ASX: CTD) share price could come under pressure on Thursday if it returns to trade as planned. The embattled corporate travel specialist's shares were placed in a trading halt on Tuesday whilst management responded to a second attack by VGI Partners.
Xero half year results.
Accounting software company Xero Limited (ASX: XRO) is due to release its half year results this morning. All eyes will be on the fast-growing company's sales and subscriber growth and its guidance for the full year. In September management confirmed that it was comfortable with the market's expectations for FY 2019. This was for revenue between NZ$528 million and NZ$558 million and EBITDA between NZ$66 million and NZ$94 million.
REA Group quarterly update.
Another company due to release an update today is REA Group Limited (ASX: REA). The property listings company is scheduled to release its first quarter update. Investors will be hopeful that it is a lot stronger than the one released by rival Domain Holdings Australia Ltd (ASX: DHG) last month.
Oil prices lower.
The shares of Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT) and Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) may be set for another day in the red after oil prices continued their decline. According to Bloomberg, the WTI crude oil price fell 0.8% to US$61.74 a barrel and the Brent crude oil prices has edged slightly lower to US$72.12 a barrel. Prices came under pressure after U.S. data revealed that its oil inventories have been growing.
