The local share market may open slightly higher this morning following gains on Wall St overnight after a better than expected housing report. Stronger metals prices likely to lift the miners like top miner BHP.
On Tuesday, the local market finished stronger with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index rising 46 points to 4,309 and on the futures market the SPI200’s up 11 points.
Checking currencies at 8:40AM the Aussie Dollar is buying 84.34 US cents, 80.33 Yen, 58.6 Euro cents and 49.82 British Pence.
In economic news today: Australian Industry Group/Commonwealth Bank Australian Performance of Services Index for July is to be released as well as the ABS international trade data for June.
In company news: Shares in global mining giant BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) gained 2.02 per cent to $38.84 yesterday. The miner has announced that Jac Nasser will succeed Don Argus as Chairman when Mr Argus retires in early 2010 after 10 years in the role. Mr Nasser who joined the BHP Board as a non-executive director in 2006 and is a member of the Board’s Risk and Audit Committee, spent 33 years with Ford Motor Company where he was President and CEO. Mr Nasser is also a partner of One Equity Partners, the private arm of JP Morgan, a director of British Sky Broadcasting and sits on the International Advisory Board of Allianz. According to Reuters Mr Nasser earned himself the nickname ‘jack the knife’ after gaining a reputation as a cost cutter. BHP’s 2008 net profit was US$15.4 billion. Shares in global education services provider Navitas Ltd (ASX:NVT) rose 5.45 per cent to $2.90 yesterday. The company posted a 32 per cent rise in earnings for the financial year to June 30. Net profit after tax of $49.2 million was underpinned by a 36 per cent increase in total group revenue to $470.7 million.Navitas says it is well positioned to deliver double digit earnings growth in the 2010 financial year. CEO Rod Jones says with net cash of $41.8 million, strong cash flows and sustained earnings from new and existing businesses, Navitas is well placed to continue to deliver strong growth into the future. Navitas 2008 net profit was $37.43 million.
Checking ex-dividends and while there are no companies going ex-dividend today, coming up we have Amcil and Ironbark Capital tomorrow and WAM Capital on Friday.
To international markets: US markets closed higher on Tuesday: the Dow Jones industrial average rose 34 points. The S&P500 Index gained 3 and the NASDAQ also added 3 points.
European markets were lower: London’s FTSE down 11 points, Paris lost 1 point and Frankfurt dropped 10 points.
Asian markets were mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 11 points. Tokyo’s Nikkei rose 23 points and China’s SSE Composite lifted 9 points.
Looking at Metals: Gold up $10.90 to US$969.70 an ounce for the December contract on Comex. For the September contract Silver rose 44 cents to US$14.70 and copper added 6 cents at US$2.80.
And finally, oil dropped 16 cents to US$71.42 a barrel for September light crude in New York.
