On Tuesday the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) had another disappointing day of trade and finished it lower by 0.3% at 6,293.1 points.
Will the market be able to bounce back with a gain on Wednesday? Here are five things to watch:
ASX futures.
According to the latest SPI futures, the Australian share market is expected to open the day down by around 0.3% or 18 points following a soft night of trade on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged slightly lower and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both fell 0.2%.
Oil prices slide.
Energy producers Oil Search Limited (ASX: OSH) and Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) could come under a little bit of pressure today after oil prices gave back their recent gains. According to Bloomberg, the WTI crude oil price fell 0.6% to US$69.37 a barrel and the Brent crude oil price dropped 0.45% to US$77.80 a barrel. A strengthening U.S. dollar weighed on prices.
Investa Office Fund receives second takeover offer.
A late announcement out of property fund Investa Office Fund (ASX: IOF) yesterday reveals that it has received an unsolicited, non-binding, indicative and conditional proposal from Oxford Properties Group to acquire 100% of IOF for a cash price of $5.50 per unit. This is 15.15 cents per IOF unit more than the $5.3485 offered by Blackstone.
Shares going ex-dividend.
More shares are due to go ex-dividend today for their latest pay outs. These include the shares of personal care products company BWX Ltd (ASX: BWX), hotel and cinema operator Event Hospitality and Entertainment Ltd (ASX: EVT), funeral company InvoCare Limited (ASX: IVC), private health insurer Medibank Private Ltd (ASX: MPL), and airline Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN).
Amazon market cap hits one trillion dollars.
During overnight trade Amazon joined Apple when its market capitalisation climbed above the US$1 trillion mark for the first time. Amazon's time in the one trillion club was only short-lived, though. It wasn't able to hold onto its gains and slipped to a US$995 billion market capitalisation by the market close.
