A big fall in the shares of biotechnology companies sent US markets lower on Friday with the Dow Jones recording its worst week of losses since December.
The slowdown in commodity prices and fears over the China slowdown subdued investor sentiment however most of the weekly losses were due to disappointing earnings reports.
Lower prices and negative leads from the US look set to send Australian shares lower in early trade.
US economic news
The Commerce Department said new home sales slipped 6.8 per cent to 482,000 whilst May sales were also revised lower from 546,000 to 517,000.
Markets
Wall Street closed lower on Friday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.9 per cent to close at 17,569, the S&P 500 shed 1.1 per cent to close at 2,080 and the NASDAQ also lost 1.1 per cent to close at 5,089.
European markets closed down: London’s FTSE slipped 1.1 per cent, Paris lost 0.6 per cent and Frankfurt dipped 1.4 per cent.
Asian markets were also down: Tokyo’s Nikkei retreated 0.7 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.1 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite ended 1.3 per cent down.
The Australian share market closed lower on Friday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 24 points down to finish at 5,566 to be 104 points down over the trading week. On the futures market the SPI is 49 points down
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 7:30AM was buying 72.73 US cents, 46.91 Pence Sterling, 90.02 Yen and 66.27 Euro cents.
Company news
Yancoal Australia Limited
(ASX:YAL) says that the continued downturn in the global coal market has forced it to make a total of 225 employees redundant at its Hunter Valley Mining operation. The Abel mine will no longer operate on weekends and activities at the Austar operation will be greatly reduced. Shares in Yancoal was flat at $0.125 on Friday.
Cudeco Limited
(ASX:CDU) say they have gained financial support from three cornerstone investors to take the Rocklands Copper project in Queensland into production. Short term loans of $1 million from each of the investors will be forthcoming with loan facilities also increased along with the extension of contract sums. Shares in Cudeco last traded at $1.70 and have been in a voluntary trading halt which ended on Friday.
Ex Dividends One company is going ex-dividend today: Countplus Limited
(ASX:CUP) will pay 2 cents fully-franked.
Commodities
Gold has shed $9.10 to $US1,086 an ounce for the August contract on Comex. Silver has slipped $0.21 to $14.49 for September. Copper has added 1 cent to $2.38 a pound. Oil has slipped $0.31 to US$48.14 a barrel for September light crude in New York.
