The local share market looks like it may open lower this morning following a negative lead from Wall St overnight after some weaker than expected economic reports dented hopes for a global recovery.
On Wednesday, the local market finished lower with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index down 45 points to 4,265 and on the futures market the SPI200’s up 3 points.
Checking currencies at 8:40AM the Aussie Dollar is buying 84.12 US cents, 79.91 Yen, 58.35 Euro cents and 49.47 British Pence.
In economic news today: ABS labour force data for July is to be released.
In company news: Shares in media giant News Corporation (ASX:NWS) fell 2.1 per cent to $14.42 yesterday. The company has posted a loss for the full year of US$3.4 billion hurt by impairment charges and a slump in advertising. The loss compares to a profit of US$5.4 billion last financial year. The company booked a non-cash pre-tax impairing charge of US$8.9 billion and recorded charges of US$312 million, primarily related to restructuring. However according to the Australian Associated Press, CEO Rupert Murdoch remains upbeat saying he is certain that News Corporation is poised to profit, and deliver strong returns, as the economy rebounds. News Corp’s profits have been increasing year on year for the past four years.
Shares in Qantas Airways Ltd (ASX:QAN) rose 0.42 per cent to $2.38 yesterday. CEO Alan Joyce has ruled out a merger of the company with another airline believing that commercial and regulatory hurdles mean that it is unlikely any consolidation in the industry will happen in the next 10 years. According to the Australian Financial Review, Mr Joyce instead says he will turn his focus to managing the airlines core business and expanding Jetstar’s presence in Asia. Qantas has held talks with Malaysia Airlines and Singapore Airlines over possible merger deals which fell apart last year. Mr Joyce says the time is absolutely not right now and that the company sees liberalization as a prerequisite for this to fully occur, and this is going to take some time in the region. Qantas recorded net profit of close to $1 billion in 2008.
Checking the ex-dividend scoreboard: going today is Amcil with a 2 cent fully franked dividend, and Ironbark Capital with a 1.2 cent fully franked dividend.
To international markets: US markets closed lower on Wednesday: the Dow Jones industrial average fell 39 points. The S&P500 Index lost 3 and the NASDAQ dropped 18.
European markets were also lower: London’s FTSE down 24 points, Paris lost 18 points and Frankfurt dropped 64 points.
Asian markets were weaker: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 302 points. Tokyo’s Nikkei fell 122 points and China’s SSE Composite slipped 43 points.
Looking at Metals: Gold fell $3.40 to US$966.30 an ounce for the December contract on Comex. For the September contract Silver lost 7 cents to US$14.76 and copper added 2 cents at US$2.81.
And finally, oil gained 55 cents to US$71.97 a barrel for September light crude in New York.
