The Australian share market looks like it may extend on yesterday’s gains this morning after Wall St closed stronger overnight following news that troubled lender CIT Group had secured a financing deal to keep it out of bankruptcy. A rise in commodities may lift resource stocks today.
On Monday the local share market closed stronger with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index up 50 points to 4,050 and on the futures market the SPI200’s is up 42 points.
Checking currencies at 8:40 am the Aussie Dollar is buying 81.5 US cents, 76.62 Yen, 57.28 Euro cents and 49.27 British Pence.
In economic news out today: The RBA minutes from its July 7 monetary policy board meeting is to be released, and the ABS new motor vehicles sales data for June is also out today.
In company news: Shares in Gold miner Dioro Exploration NL (ASX:DIO) rose 4.41 per cent to $0.71 yesterday , and Avoca Resources Ltd (ASX:AVO) shares closed steady at 1.75 yesterday. Dioro says it is in advanced discussions with Canadian company Northgate Minerals Corporation about a potential material transaction that could rival the takeover offer from Avoca Resources. Dioro says details of the proposed transaction will be announced within a week. Avoca Resources Ltd (ASX:AVO) current offer is one Avoca share for every 2.4 Dioro shares, which Dioro has recommended shareholders reject. Avoca extended its offer on Monday till July 28 and called for Dioro to provide a frank and complete report on the status of its third party talks. Dioro Exploration has posted net losses in the last three years, and looking back at the past five years Avoca Resources has also posted net losses.
Shares in rural services company AWB Ltd (ASX:AWB) are in a trading halt and last traded at $1.20. The company’s shares were placed in a trading halt ahead of an announcement regarding its operations in Brazil and full year trading expectations. In May the company said it had restructured the management team at its Brazil operations after poor results which the company said were unacceptable. AWB's net profit after tax fell 62 per cent for the half year to $8.5 million, after expectations for between $10 million and $12 million. AWB’s 2008 net profit was $64.28 million.
To international markets: Wall Street finished stronger on Monday. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 104 points. The S&P500 Index is 11 points higher and the NASDAQ added 23 points.
European markets were also higher: London’s FTSE rose 55 points. Paris added 52 points and Frankfurt also rose 52 points.
Asian markets stronger: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 697 points. Tokyo’s Nikkei was closed and the China’s SSE Composite up 77 points.
Looking at Metals: Gold added US$11.30 to US$948.80 an ounce, for the August contract on Comex. For the September contract Silver rose 22 cents to US$13.63 and copper gained 5 cents to US$2.47.
And finally oil rose US$0.42 to US$63.98 a barrel for August light crude in New York.
