Latest stock market news videos & Morning Bell

Yesterday, the ASX200 gained 38 points or 0.5%, which marked the fourth gain in the last five days. All sectors closed in the green, apart from the Energy and Consumer Staples sectors.

In the US, the Dow Jones surged to a new all-time high, the S&P500 notched its sixth straight day of gains, while the Nasdaq closed slightly lower.

Following the decent night on Wall Street, the futures are suggesting the Aussie share market will open 0.16% higher this morning.

What to watch today:

• There are several companies reporting today, they include Alumina (ASX:AWC), Brambles (ASX:BXB), Woodside Petroleum (ASX:WPL), Cimic Group (ASX:CIM), Megaport (ASX:MP1), Mirvac Group (ASX:MGR), and Rhipe (ASX:RHP).
• AGMs today include Wesfarmers (ASX:WES), likely to also provide a trading update at the event, Transurban (ASX:TCL), Crown Resorts (ASX:CWN), APA Group (ASX:APA), as well as Endeavour Group (ASX:EDV), Auckland International Airport (ASX:AIA) and Magellan Financial Group (ASX:MFG).
• The most traded stocks yesterday by Bell Direct clients included BHP (ASX:BHP) which traded slightly higher yesterday after the company managed to outbid Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest’s Wyloo Metals to buy Canadian nickel miner Noront Resources. The company’s chief executive stated that BHP’s offer delivers certainty of value to Noront shareholders via an all-cash offer. Another most traded stock was Whitehaven Coal (ASX:WHC). Its share price tumbled 7.9% yesterday after China’s state planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said that they were looking to clamp down on surging coal prices.
• The oil price continues to trade at 7-year high territory, lifting 1.1% to US$83.89 a barrel. This comes after US crude stockpiles fell and inventories at the nation’s largest storage site hit their lowest level in three years.  The gold price is currently trading 0.7% higher at US$1,781 an ounce. And the sea borne iron ore price is trading slightly higher at US$123 a tonne.

Trading ideas:

• Bell Potter has reiterated its BUY recommendation on oil and gas exploration and production company, Beach Energy (ASX:BPT) with an increased price target of $1.65 (previously $1.62). BPT is currently trading down 20% YTD and yesterday closed 3.7% lower, which implies 14.6% share price growth.
• Bullish charting signals have been identified in Panoramic Resources (ASX:PAN), Airtasker (ASX:ART) and Bapcor (ASX:BAP), according to Trading Central.