US stocks opened in steep decline but recovered some ground to give the ASX a slightly negative lead. Greece is still weighing on investor minds. The debt-plagued nation is due to give the IMF a 300 million euro payment on Friday.
Oil prices rose 2 per cent ahead of the OPEC meeting in Vienna on Friday giving energy stocks a bit of a boost.
US enconomic news
The Commerce department reported a 0.4 per cent fall in factory orders for April. Orders have now fallen for eight straight months.
Markets
Wall Street closed lower yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.2 per cent to close at 18,012, the S&P 500 lost 0.1 per cent to close at 2,110 and the NASDAQ shed 0.1 per cent to close at 5,077.
European markets also lost ground: London’s FTSE retreated 0.4 per cent, Paris lost 0.4 per cent and Frankfurt declined 0.9 per cent.
Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei slipped 0.1 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.5 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite advanced 1.7 per cent.
The Australian share market closed lower yesterday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 99 points down to finish at 5,636. On the futures market the SPI is 18 points up.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 7:20AM was buying 77.78 US cents, 50.70 Pence Sterling, 96.54 Yen and 69.76 Euro cents.
Economic news
Due out today from the Australian Bureau of Statistics is the March qtr GDP. The Performance of Services index and new car sales are also released.
Company news
Growthpoint Properties Australia Limited
(ASX:GOZ) says it has signed an eight year extension of a Canberra office building lease which represents around 4 per cent of its rental income. Growthpoint paid $55.8 million for the property in 2012. It has recently been revalued at $85 milion. Shares in Growthpoint last traded up 0.98 per cent at $3.09
PaperlinX Limited
(ASX:PPX) says it has entered agreements to sell its operations in Denmark, Sweden, Spain and Ireland. Remaining operations in the Czech Republic and Germany continue to trade but are still on the selling block.
Shares in PaperlinX are steady at 2.6 cents.
Ex-Dividends Three companies are going ex-dividend today: Infratil Limited
(ASX:IFZ) will pay 13.35 cents unfranked, Kathmandu Holdings Limited
(ASX:KMD) will pay 2.93 cents fully franked, Ruralco Holdings
(ASX:RHL) will pay 9 cents fully franked.
Commodities
Gold has lifted $5.70 to $US1,194 an ounce for the August contract on Comex. Silver has jumped 12 cents to $16.80 for July. Copper is up 2 cents to $2.74 a pound. Oil has gained $1.06 to US$61.26 a barrel for July light crude in New York.
