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The Australian share market fell at the start of trade, after European markets were weaker overnight and Wall Street lost ground late in the US session.
Market snapshot at 8:40am (AEDT):
- ASX SPI futures -0.2pc at 6,715, ASX 200 (Monday's close) +0.3pc at 6,730
- AUD: 68.29 US cents, 51.94 British pence, 61.72 Euro cents, 74.16 Japanese yen, $NZ1.04
- US: Dow Jones -0.4pc at 27,909, S&P 500 -0.3pc at 3,135, Nasdaq -0.4pc at 8,621
- Europe: FTSE 100 -0.1pc at 7,233, DAX -0.5pc at 13,105, CAC -0.6pc at 5,837, Euro Stoxx 50 -0.3pc at 3,325
- Commodities: Brent crude -0.4pc at $US64.13/barrel, spot gold +0.1pc at $US1,461.21/ounce
The major US indices gave up early gains as the deadline for the US to impose its planned tariffs on Chinese imports looms.
A lack of fresh updates on trade negotiations between Washington and Beijing hurt investor sentiment, with the Dow Jones closing down by 0.4 per cent.
"The decision whether or not to raise tariffs on December 15 rests with President Trump and he has continued his constructive ambiguity on the issue which is keeping markets guessing," said NAB economist Tapas Strickland.
The ASX followed Wall Street lower — by 11:30am (AEDT) the ASX 200 had lost 0.1 per cent.
'Public and behind-the-scenes attacks'
Details of Amazon's lawsuit over the loss of a Pentagon contract to rival Microsoft were revealed, with the tech giant blaming Donald Trump.
The complaint filed in a US court claims the President exerted "improper pressure" that led to the $US10 billion cloud contract not being awarded to Amazon Web Services, in order to "harm his perceived political enemy" Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Amazon said there were "egregious errors" in the process, which were the result of "repeated public and behind-the-scenes attacks" by Mr Trump.
Microsoft was awarded the cloud computing contract in October.
What to watch: central banks, UK election
Elsewhere, the British pound has rallied amid expectations of a Conservative victory in Thursday's UK election, hitting a seven-month high against the US dollar.
Central bankers are in focus this week, with Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe to deliver his final speech of 2019 this morning.
The US Federal Reserve will begin its two-day policy meeting tomorrow, while the European Central Bank will meet on Thursday, the first under new president Christine Lagarde.
Topics: business-economics-and-finance, markets, stockmarket, australia, united-states
First posted