The local share market looks like it may open lower this morning following falls on Wall St overnight, with mining and energy stocks likely to lead the declines on a drop in metal and oil prices.
On Wednesday, the Australian share market closed lower. The S&P/ASX 200 Index down 27 points to 4,143 and on the futures market the SPI200’s up 3 points.
Checking currencies at 8:40am the Aussie dollar is buying 81.68 US cents, 77.64 Yen, 58.22 Euro cents and 49.91 British Pence.
In economic news: The ABS building approvals data for June is due out today.
In company news: Iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) shares fell 5.24 per cent to $4.16. Fortescue estimates that its Glacier Valley tenement has a potential resource of 1.23 billion metric tonnes of magnetite iron ore. The company says the project is subject to a joint venture arrangement with an Australian subsidiary of China’s Baosteel Group Corporation. Fortescue says the Glacier Valley material shows the characteristics of a quality magnetite deposit with a grade of 33 per cent iron which can be processed to a grade of around 67 per cent based on a recovery rate of 29 per cent. Fortescue Metals Group has posted net losses in the last four years.
Leighton Holdings Ltd (ASX:LEI) shares dropped 2.76 per cent to $27.46. The company says it has signed an agreement with Australian Rail Track Corporation to create the Upper Hunter Valley Alliance which will deliver a $152 million program of works on the Hunter Valley Rail corridor. Leighton says in alliance with ARTC, Leighton Contractors will be commissioned to undertake civil and track work for the ARTC into 2018. ARTC CEO David Marchant says demand for Hunter Valley coal is set to grow exponentially by 2012. Mr Marchant says against the backdrop of volatile world markets, this program of works will be essential in enabling the Hunter Valley corridor to meet future demand, deliver coal to port efficiently and thereby contribute to the ongoing recovery of the Australian economy. Leighton Holdings net profits have been growing year on year over the past four years.
Checking the ex-dividend scoreboard and there are no companies going today however coming up tomorrow is Alcoa and Singapore Telecommunications.
To international markets: US markets finished lower on Wednesday. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 26 points. The S&P500 Index fell 4 and the NASDAQ declined 8 points.
European markets were stronger: London’s FTSE up 19 points, Paris gained 35 points and Frankfurt added 96 points.
Asian markets were mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 489 points. Tokyo’s Nikkei up 26 points and China’s SSE Composite down 172 points.
Looking at Metals: Gold declined $12 to US$929.70 an ounce for the December contract on Comex. For the September contract Silver slipped 48 cents to US$13.26 and copper dropped 4 cents at US$2.48.
And finally, oil fell $3.88 to US$63.35 a barrel for September light crude in New York.
