Market snapshot
- ASX 200 futures: +0.2% to 8,240 points
- Australian dollar: -0.8% to 64.83 US cents
- S&P 500: flat at 5,987 points
- Nasdaq: -0.1% to 19,260 points
- FTSE: +0.06 to 8,030 points
- EuroStoxx: -0.1% to 4,740 points
- Spot gold: -0.8% at $US2,577/ounce
- Brent crude: -0.2% to $US72.01/barrel
- Iron ore: Flat at $US100.55/tonne
- Bitcoin: +2.9% to $US90,764
Prices current around 7:15am AEDT.
Live updates on the major ASX indices:
Super funds to face Senate scrutiny
A Senate Economics References Committee will question the practices of major superannuation funds this morning.
Here’s the line up:
10am: Mary Delahunty, CEO of the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia
Super Members Council chief executive Misha Schubert
10.30am: Cbus Super – chief executive Kristian Fok
11am: Hesta – head of portfolio management Jeff Brunton
11.20am: Australian Super – chief strategy officer Paula Benson
11.40am: Aware Super – chief investment officer Damien Graham
You can tune in live from 10am here:
Cbus taken to court accused of failing to pay thousands of claims
In case you missed it … corporate regulator ASIC is taking industry superannuation fund Cbus to court for failing to process more than 10,000 death and disability claims in a reasonable timeframe.
ASIC is alleging that payments of more than 6,000 of those claims have been delayed by more than a year, and some are yet to be completely rectified.
ASIC says the financial loss to members could top $20 million. Cbus said it will ask ASIC to engage in alternative dispute resolution to avoid lengthy litigation.
The regulator suspects the issue could be widespread and is doing a “deep dive” into the industry to check.
Check out last night’s story on The Business from reporter Dan Ziffer:
Welcome to Thursday!
Good morning and welcome to the ABC’s markets live blog, where we’ll bring you the latest business action and news from Australia and overseas.
Today all eyes will be on superannuation funds as Cbus, HESTA, Australian Super and Aware face a Senate committee at Parliament House.
Overnight, Wall Street has edged ever so slightly higher, likely to be reflected in the ASX at the open.
The Dow was up +0.32%, the Nasdaq +0.2%, and the S&P 500 slightly higher at +0.3%.
Bitcoin has surged almost +3% to $US90,764
ASX futures were up +0.2% to 8,245 at 7am AEDT.
The Australian dollar was down -0.8% to 64.83 US cents.
Iron ore was flat at $US100.55 a tonne.
And oil rose +0.3% trading at $US72.08 a barrel.
