The local share market is expected to open higher today, boosted by a July jobs report out of the US that showed the unemployment rate fell unexpectedly, fueling hopes that America might be pulling out of recession. Resource stocks could get a boost from higher gold and metals prices, but oil companies may slip after a fall in the price of the liquid gold.
On Friday our local market closed the week lower. The S&P/ASX 200 Index dropped 27 points to 4,299 and on the futures market the SPI200’s is up 41 points.
Checking currencies at 8:30AM the Aussie Dollar is weaker and is buying 83.58 US cents, 81.62 Yen, 58.92 Euro cents and 50.11 Pence Stirling.
In economic news out today: the Australian Bureau of Statistics releases housing finance data for June.
In company news out today: Bendigo and Adelaide Bank will post their annual results. Later in the week BHP Billiton, Commonwealth Bank, Telstra and Leighton will also be reporting.
In company news: Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) shares last traded lower, down 2.15% to $60.57. A report published yesterday on a Chinese government-run website claims Rio Tinto spied on China’s steelmakers for six years, costing them over $100 billion in excessive charges for iron ore. The article said government agencies should enhance their surveillance at key companies they supervise. The accusations follow the detention of four Rio executives, including Australian Stern Hu on charges they stolen state secrets. Rio Tinto’s best net profit was in 2006.
The Commonwealth Bank (ASX: CBA) last traded stronger, up 0.23% to $44.45. CBA has settled its dispute with the former owners of BankWest over the $2.1 billion it paid to buy the regional lender before the acquisition was hit with higher-than expected bad debts. CommBank has reportedly received a hefty discount of on the price it paid late last year to British bank HBOS, now owned by its British rival Lloyds. But the terms of the revised deal have not been released as the dispute had to be resolved by mediation and both sides agreed to keep the result confidential. CBA’s profits have been increasing over the past four years.
Checking ex-dividends and going today are Alternative Investment Trust with a 47 cent unfranked dividend and Energy Resources which has a 14 cent fully franked dividend.
To the international scoreboard: It was a strong finish on Wall Street on Friday. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 114 points. The S&P500 Index added 13 and the NASDAQ rose 27 points.
European markets were higher: London’s FTSE rose 41 points, Paris added 43 points and Frankfurt is up 89 points.
Asian markets were mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 524 points. Tokyo’s Nikkei added 24 points but the Shanghai Composite lost 96 points.
Looking at Metals: Gold lost ground, falling US$3.40 to US$959.50 an ounce for the December contract on Comex. For the September contract Silver is up 2 cents to US$14.67 and copper rose 3 cents at US$2.79.
And finally, the price of oil fell US$1.01 to US$70.93 a barrel for September light crude in New York.
