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In overseas markets, European markets closed in the green after a week of losses, due to a strong economic recovery in the euro zone. US equities overnight closed mixed.

Yesterday the ASX200 recovered late, rising 0.25% at the close. Mining stocks pushed the market higher. The energy sector also benefited from the rising oil prices due to Hurricane Ida. And the four major banks closed mixed.

Today, following US equities, the SPI futures are suggesting the ASX200 will open 0.2% lower.

What to watch today:

• In economic news, Business Confidence data for August will be released today at 11:30am AEST. Business confidence fell to negative 8 points in July from 11 points in June. Forecasts expect August data to fall to negative 13, dragged down by lockdowns, in particular NSW currently. Additionally, the RBA Governor Phillip Lowe will give a speech at 1pm on Delta, the economy and monetary policy.
• Sydney Airport (ASX:SYD) following the company receiving a third takeover proposal from a consortium of IFM Investors. The offer is higher than the previous two SYD recently rejected, offering $8.75 cash per SYD share. The offer values Sydney Airport at $23.6 billion, and SYD closed 4.6% higher yesterday.
• Companies going ex-dividend today include: Absolute Equity (ASX:AEG), Breville (ASX:BRG), Glennon Small Companies (ASX:GC1), Newscorp (ASX:NWS), Inghams Group (ASX:ING), and PSC Insurance Group (ASX:PSI).
• The most traded stocks by Bell Direct clients yesterday included BHP (ASX:BHP), iShares S&P 500 ETF (ASX:IVV) and Computershare (ASX:CPU).

• The price of oil is trading 1.4% higher at US$70.68 a barrel. The gold price rose 0.3%, while copper fell over 2%. And iron ore is trading 2.6% lower at US$129.66 a tonne.

Trading ideas:

• Citi has a BUY rating on Ardent Leisure (ASX:ALG) with a $1.80 price target. ALG own and operate a leisure portfolio of over 100 assets across the US, Australia and NZ, such as Dream World and White-Water World. Citi’s expected share price return is 13.9%. ALG closed more than 5% lower yesterday.
• Bullish charting signals have been identified in Incitec Pivot (ASX:IPL), American Pacific Borates (ASX:ABR) and PropTech Group (ASX:PTG), according to Trading Central.