On Tuesday the S&P/ASX 200 index once again gave back its strong start to finish the day with only a small gain. The benchmark index finished almost 0.1% higher at 6,745.4 points.
Will the local share market be able to do better on Wednesday? Here are five things to watch:
ASX 200 expected to slide.
It looks set to be a disappointing day of trade for the S&P/ASX 200 index on Wednesday. According to the latest SPI futures, the ASX 200 is expected to fall 0.4% or 27 points at the market open. This follows a subdued night of trade on Wall Street which saw the Dow Jones edge 0.1% lower, the S&P 500 slide 0.1%, and the Nasdaq drop 0.6%.
Woolworths update.
Hot on the heels of the Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL) update on Tuesday, rival Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) is scheduled to release its own update this morning. According to a note out of Goldman Sachs, it expects Woolies to post revenue of $15.9 billion for the quarter. This will be a 6.9% increase on the prior corresponding period.
Oil prices lower.
Oil Search Limited (ASX: OSH) and Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) could be on the slide today after oil prices continued to edge lower. According to Bloomberg, the WTI crude oil price fell 0.7% to US$55.43 a barrel and the Brent crude oil price dropped 0.1% to US$61.49 a barrel.
Gold price drops to weekly low.
Gold miners including Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST) and Saracen Mineral Holdings Limited (ASX: SAR) could come under pressure on Wednesday after the spot gold price dropped to a one-week low. According to CNBC, the spot gold price is down 0.3% to US$1,491.20 an ounce. The catalyst for this was further trade war optimism weighing on risk off assets.
Coles rated as a buy.
The Coles share price could be on the rise again on Wednesday after analysts at Goldman Sachs responded positively to its first quarter update. Goldman liked what it saw and has reiterated its buy rating and lifted its price target to $15.90.
