On Wednesday the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) found its legs and managed to storm notably higher. The benchmark index raced a whopping 2.4% higher to 5,923.9 points.
Will the market be able to build on this on Thursday? Here are five things to watch:
ASX 200 to sink lower.
The ASX 200 looks likely to give back a lot of yesterday's gain on Thursday. According to the latest SPI futures, the benchmark index is poised to drop 60 points or 1% lower at the open. This follows another selloff on Wall Street overnight which saw the Dow Jones fall 1.9%, the S&P 500 drop 2.4%, and the Nasdaq index crash 3% lower. The latter decline could be bad news for the local tech sector.
Oil prices drop lower.
Energy producers such as Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) and Oil Search Limited (ASX: OSH) could be on the slide today after oil prices softened. According to Bloomberg, the WTI crude oil price is down 0.65% to US$39.54 a barrel and the Brent crude oil price has fallen 0.7% to US$41.44 a barrel. Demand concerns continue to weigh on prices.
Gold price sinks lower.
Gold miners Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX: EVN) and Saracen Mineral Holdings Limited (ASX: SAR) could have a tough day ahead of them after the gold price continued to sink lower. According to CNBC, the spot gold price has fallen 2.1% to US$1,866.00 an ounce. The strengthening U.S. dollar is weighing heavily on the price of the precious metal.
Brickworks FY 2020 result.
The Brickworks Limited (ASX: BKW) share price will be one to watch today when it hands in its full year results. The building products and property development company had a tough first half to FY 2020. It posted a 1% increase in total revenue to $449 million and a 37% decline in underlying net profit after tax to $100 million. However, trading conditions in the United States have improved over the last few months, which could have boosted its second half performance.
Soul Pattinson result.
This morning the Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co. Ltd (ASX: SOL) share price could be on the move when it releases its full year results. The investment house is expected to release a messy set of results due to the TPG Telecom Ltd (ASX: TPG) merger with Vodafone Australia. It recently advised that the estimated financial impact of derecognising TPG as an associate is expected to be an after-tax profit in the range of $1,120 million to $1,170 million. It also received special dividends of $120.9 million from TPG during the merger process.
