On Friday the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) finished the day higher to put an end to a disappointing week.
Will the market be able to start this week with a bang? Here are five things that could shape the day's trade:
ASX futures pointing lower.
According to the latest SPI futures, the Australian share market is expected to open the week in the red. ASX futures are pointing to the market opening 1 point lower on Monday. This is despite a strong end to the week on Wall Street that saw the Dow Jones climb 0.5%, the S&P 500 rise 0.6%, and the Nasdaq jump almost 0.9%.
BHP and Rio Tinto push higher in London.
The shares of mining giants BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP) and Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) could be poised to have a strong day of trade after their London-listed shares finished the week with strong gains. BHP's shares rose 2.2% and Rio's shares pushed 1.6% higher. A strong night of trade in commodity prices appears to have been the catalyst for these gains.
Shares going ex-dividend.
Several popular dividend shares will trade ex-dividend this morning and are likely to head lower. Beverage giant Coca-Cola Amatil Ltd (ASX: CCL), integrated pet care company Greencross Limited (ASX: GXL), and healthcare company Primary Health Care Limited (ASX: PRY) go ex-dividend for their respective pay outs today.
G8 Education results.
Embattled child care centre operator G8 Education Ltd (ASX: GEM) is scheduled to release its half year results this morning. All eyes will be on the company's dividend and its occupancy levels after a surprisingly weak FY 2018. I'm not expecting FY 2019 to be notably better than FY 2018 despite positive changes to government funding.
Other results due to drop.
In addition to G8 Education, results are expected to be released from junior telco company Amaysim Australia Ltd (ASX: AYS), fertility treatment company Monash IVF Group Ltd (ASX: MVF), and broadband equipment manufacturer Netcomm Wireless Ltd (ASX: NTC). Expectations are high for the latter after it delivered an impressive half year result which saw revenue rise 89% to $88.6 million.
