The Australian share market looks to put the brakes on the week’s rally and open lower. Following yesterday buoyant local gains traders have today received weak leads. Trade is also likely to remain light as the festive period continues ahead of New Years.
Global markets
Wall Street saw a soft start to the week: The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.1 per cent to close at 18,038, the S&P 500 firmed 0.1 per cent to close at 2,091 and the Nasdaq ended steady at 4,807.
European markets started the week higher: London's FTSE 100 rose 0.4 per cent, France's CAC 40 lifted 0.5 per cent and Germany's DAX firmed 0.1 per cent.
Asian markets ended mixed on Monday: Japan’s Nikkei lost 0.5 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.8 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite put on 0.3 per cent.
The Australian share market climbed 1.5 per cent into the new week: The S&P/ASX 200 index jumped 79 points to close at 5,474 on Monday. On the futures market the SPI is 21 points lower.
Currencies
The Australian dollar at 8:30am was buying $US0.8132, 52.45 Pence Sterling, 98.11 Yen and 66.95 Euro cents.
Mining news
Shares in copper producer Sandfire Resources NL
(ASX:SFR) rose after inking a deal to buy a project from minerals explorer Sipa Resources Limited
(ASX:SRI). Under the deal Sanfire will issue Sipa $2 million worth of Sandfire shares in return for Sipa’s Thaduna Copper Project in Western Australia. Sandfire will also pay Sipa a 1 per cent net smelter return royalty on all minerals produced and sold from the tenements. Shares in Sipa dropped almost 8 per cent following the announcement while shares in Sandfire Resources rose 4.9 per cent to close at $4.71 on Monday.
Shares in Silver Lake Resources Limited
(ASX:SLR) surged yesterday after announcing it has raised $10 million by way of gold prepayment it plans to use for working capital. Under the gold prepay facility the gold miner will deliver over 7,000 ounces of gold to Commonwealth Bank of Australia
(ASX:CBA) from next month to July 2016. In addition Silver Lake says it has also forward sold almost 33,000 ounces of gold at an average price of about $1,486 per ounce. Shares in Silver Lake Resources surged 19.35 per cent to close at $0.185 on Monday following the announcement.
Commodities
Gold has dropped $13.40 to $US1,182 an ounce for the February contract on Comex.
Silver has dipped $0.37 to $15.78 for March.
Copper has risen $0.01 to $2.82 a pound.
Oil has fallen $1.12 to $US53.61 a barrel for February light crude in New York.
