Here are the headlines from the S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX: XJO)(ASX: XJO) and Australian finance circles on Friday morning, including a forecast of further house price falls from National Australia Bank Ltd. (ASX: NAB).
But first, here’s the data points:
Australian Dollar ($A) (AUDUSD): 74 US cents
Dow Jones (DJI): up 0.9%
Oil (WTI): $US70.24 per barrel
Gold: $US1,247 per ounce
Australian Investing News
Making finance news, analysts at National Australia Bank have lowered their Australian house price forecasts for 2019, betting that prices will slide into 2019.
NAB’s Quarterly Residential Property Survey stated: “We now expect a slightly sharper decline in 2018 and a small fall in 2019 (it was expected to be a small increase), driven by continued weakness in Sydney and Melbourne as well as a sharper decline in unit prices in Brisbane.”
NAB’s forecasts mirror the forecasts put forward by analysts at Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX: ANZ) who predicted a 10% fall from top to bottom in both Sydney and Melbourne.
In share market news, Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) announced a non-binding agreement to sell its part of the giant Grasberg gold and copper mine in Indonesia to Inalum for $3.5 billion.
Investment business Netwealth Group Ltd (ASX: NWL) provided a quarterly update showing a 41% increase in funds under management for its 2018 financial year. Netwealth also increased its profit growth expectations by 6%.
Finally, biotechnology business Sirtex Medical Limited (ASX: SRX) revealed it will pay $15.8 million to Varian Medical Systems after Varian’s failed takeover. Sirtex has since accepted another takeover offer from a Chinese consortium, CDH-CGP, which has agreed to pay Sirtex’s break fee.
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