The Australian share market is expected to open stronger following significant gains on Wall Street on a surge in financial stocks ahead of the US reporting season.
Yesterday the local share market closed lower with the S&P/ASX 200 Index down 57 points to 3,738 and on the futures market the SPI200’s is up 58 points.
Checking currencies at 8:30AM the Aussie dollar is buying 78.41 US cents, 72.99 Yen, 56.08 Euro cents and 48.28 British pence.
In economic news: the National Australia Bank’s monthly business survey for June is out today with investors hoping that the confidence seen in consumers and retail sales has spread to companies.
In company news: Asciano Group (ASX:AIO) shares closed lower yesterday slipping 2.56% to $1.33. The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting this morning that Asciano Group managing director Mark Rowsthorn has been forced to sell almost $80 million worth of his stock in the company to participate in the company’s latest rights issue. Rowsthorn’s stake in the company is expected to fall to around 4% from nearly 11%.
BHP Billiton (ASX:BHP) shares closed weaker yesterday, down 1.38% to $32.20. The Australian Financial Review is reporting that the mining giant has approached other mining companies to consider supporting a plan to provide funding for a $1.2 billion expansion of the Newcastle coal port. The newspaper reports the consortium includes Centennial Coal, Donaldson Coal, Peabody Energy, Felix Resources and Whitehaven Coal. It’s believed that expressions of interest are being sought for a proposed second-stage expansion of the terminal. Net profits: the standout result for BHP Billiton over the past five years was in 2008 with over US$15 billion.
To international markets:Wall Street finished stronger overnight. The Dow Jones industrial average lifted 185 points. The S&P500 Index added 22 points and the NASDAQ rose 37 points.
European markets were also higher: London’s FTSE rose 75 points. Paris added 69 points and Frankfurt is up 146 points.
Asian markets were lower: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 454 points. Tokyo’s Nikkei shed 237 points and China’s SSE Composite dropped 33 points.
Looking at Metals: Gold added US$10 to US$922.50 an ounce, for the August contract on Comex. For the September contract Silver rose 14 cents to US$12.79 and copper is up 1 cent to US$2.22.
And finally oil prices slipped 20 cents to US$59.69 a barrel for August light crude in New York.
