On Thursday the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) had a day to forget and plunged 2.7% lower to 5,883.8 points.
Will the market be able to bounce back on Friday? Here are five things to watch:
ASX futures pointing lower.
According to the latest SPI futures, the local market is expected to open the day deep in the red again. Futures contracts are pointing to a 0.8% or 47-point decline at the open. This follows another bleak night of trade on Wall Street which saw the Dow Jones fall 2.1%, the S&P 500 drop 2.1%, and the NASDAQ tumble 1.25%.
Global market selloff continues.
It wasn't just Wall Street that sank deep into the red overnight. The FTSE 100 fell 1.9%, the DAX dropped 1.5%, and the SENSEX fell 2.2%. Joe Terranova, chief market strategist at Virtus Investment Partners, told CNBC, that: "It's a momentum correction, not a portfolio correction. While we have a bias to believe 2008 could happen again, I don't think this is the case."
Gold miners set to rise.
Australian gold miners such as Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX: EVN), Resolute Mining Limited (ASX: RSG), and St Barbara Ltd (ASX: SBM) were among the best performers on the market on Thursday after investors fled to risk off assets. With the market set to sink lower again and the spot gold price spiking 2.7% higher over the last 24 hours to US$1,225 an ounce, these gold miners look set to enjoy another solid day of trade.
Australian dollar spikes.
A sudden weakening of the U.S. dollar led to the Australian dollar surging overnight. The local currency has climbed 1% to 71.2 U.S. cents since this time yesterday. A lower than expected core inflation reading in the United States appears to have put pressure on the greenback.
Shares going ex-dividend.
A number of shares are due to go ex-dividend this morning. These include investment company Future Generation Investment Company Ltd (ASX: FGX), pharmacy chain operator and distributor Sigma Healthcare Ltd (ASX: SIG), and Wilson Asset Management's WAM Research Limited (ASX: WAX), WAM Microcap Limited (ASX: WMI), WAM Leaders Ltd (ASX: WLE), and WAM Active Limited (ASX: WAA).
