The three major US stock indexes closed higher as investors applauded a strong US earnings season with results from Berkshire Hathaway impressing and Facebook getting a boost.
Australian shares rose on Monday, as strong iron ore prices in China helped material stocks while investors were largely focused on earnings due later in the week.
Australian shares have opened higher, led by mining heavyweights BHP and Rio Tinto following a rise in metal prices, and gains on Wall Street on Friday.
Osborne Park-based Georgiou Group has been awarded an $18.7 million contract to construct a privately-funded traffic bridge carrying Great Northern Highway over the Roy Hill rail line, located approximately 25 kilometres south-west of Port Hedland.
Oil prices have strengthened, with US crude gaining nearly 2 per cent after traders saw an industry report suggesting domestic crude stockpiles would soon decline again.
Technology stocks have pushed the S&P 500 and Nasdaq higher, driven by Apple shares as the iPhone maker became the first publicly traded US company worth a trillion dollars.
The Australian share market has closed lower, dragged down by the materials sector following Rio Tinto's first-half earnings miss and further concerns over the trade war between the US and China.
Australian shares are slightly negative in early trade following falls on Wall Street's main indexes overnight and a decline in the shares of mining giant Rio Tinto following its half-year results.
Oil prices fell about 2 per cent as a surprise increase in US crude stockpiles fed concerns about global oversupply, while investors worried that trade tensions could hit energy demand.
The S&P 500 and Dow have slipped as gains in Apple shares were offset by a drop in energy and industrial companies with the US Federal Reserve remaining on course for an expected interest rate hike in September.
The Australian share market has closed slightly lower as falls in banking and energy stocks offset gains in miners BHP and Rio Tinto, industrials and healthcare companies.
Paladin Energy has announced plans to move to full ownership of fellow Perth-based uranium company Summit Resources, in a scrip deal worth around $7.8 million.
US stocks have risen as technology stocks rebounded and a report said the United States and China were trying to restart negotiations to defuse a trade war between world's two largest economies.
The Western Australian Club, which has been running since 1893, has been placed in the hands of administrators, one week after another historic icon - West Perth Football Club, founded in 1885 – took the same path.
Oil prices rose with US crude futures jumping more than two per cent, as traders continued to focus on supply disruptions and a possible hit to crude output from US sanctions on Iran.
A broad sell-off of technology stocks has pushed the three major US stock indexes lower, with the Nasdaq Composite posting its third consecutive loss of more than 1 per cent for the first time in three years just days after hitting a record high.
Austal has announced the government of Caribbean country, Trinidad & Tobago, intends to purchase two patrol boats in a deal worth approximately $100 million.
The Australian share market has closed stronger, with gains almost across the board and miners buoyed by BHP's deal to sell its troublesome US shale oil assets.
The Nasdaq Composite fell on Thursday as Facebook led a selloff in technology stocks, but the Dow gained as fears of a transatlantic trade war eased after the European Union and the United States agreed to negotiate on tariffs.
