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.
The Australian share market has closed flat on Thursday, despite gains for local energy and gold stocks and a positive overnight lead from Wall Street.
Gold has ticked higher, but was still hovering near one-year lows as the dollar slipped, while a lack of clarity over where a trade dispute between the United States and Europe is heading kept markets mostly rangebound.
Oil prices have risen for the second consecutive day after US government data showed domestic crude inventories fell to their lowest levels since February 2015, easing worries about oversupply that have weighed on markets in recent weeks.
The S&P 500 has opened flat as gains in technology shares offset weak earnings from Boeing, General Motors and AT&T, while investors eyed a meeting between President Donald Trump and the head of the European Commission on trade.
Car rental and mechanical service company Thrifty WA has begun a $20 million expansion of its operations in the Goldfields, a new branch at Kalgoorlie-Boulder Airport.
Oil prices have risen as the market shifts focus to the possibility of increased Chinese demand, drawing attention away from oversupply worries and trade tensions between China and the United States.
