US stocks recovered from early dips to end with slight gains ahead of the weekend. The markets there are adopting a wait-and-see attitude ahead of this week’s Federal Reserve meeting on interest rates.
The SPI is pointing to local stocks opening slightly higher however this week could see investors sitting on the sidelines until the Fed reveals it’s policy decision come Thursday.
US economic news
The Producer Price Index for August came in unchanged, slightly beating expectations of a 0.1 per cent decline. Core PPI is up 0.7 per cent over the past 12 months.
Markets
Wall Street closed higher on Friday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.6 per cent to close at 16,433, the S&P 500 added nearly half a per cent to close at 1,961 and the NASDAQ advanced 0.5 per cent to close at 4,822.
European markets closed lower: London’s FTSE was down 0.6 per cent, Paris lost 1 per cent and Frankfurt slipped 0.9 per cent.
Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei slipped 0.2 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng retreated 0.3 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.1 per cent.
The Australian share market closed lower on Friday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 24 points down to finish at 5,071 to be 31 points up on the week. On the futures market the SPI is 25 points higher.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 7:20AM was buying 70.85 US cents, 45.93 Pence Sterling, 85.40 Yen and 62.51 Euro cents.
Company news
And the Evolution Mining
(ASX:EVN) bid for Phoenix Gold Limited
(ASX:PXG) is in limbo after the Phoenix Board advised their shareholders to take no action. The $0.12 cents per share on offer is a counter offer to a $0.10 per share cash bid from Zinjin Mining which Phoenix shareholders have been advised to reject. Phoenix plans to review the Evolution bid and will respond with a Target Statement in due time. Shares in Evolution Mining last traded 1.3 per cent lower at $1.13.
Poseidon Nickel Limited
(ASX:POS) says the sale of rights to mine the Silver Swan mine to Caeneaus Minerals has been terminated. Caeneaus was unable to raise the $1.5 M needed to complete the transaction due to current economic conditions and falling commodity prices. Shares in Poseidon last traded 1.79 per cent higher at $0.06.
Commodities Gold has dipped $6.00 to $US1,103 an ounce for the December contract on Comex. Silver has shed 6 cents to $14.59 for December. Copper is up 1 cent to $2.45 a pound. Oil has slipped $1.28 to US$45.16 a barrel for October light crude in New York.
| Name | Code | Date | Amount(cents) | Franking |
| Australian Ethical | AEF | 14/09/15 | 120 | 100 |
| A.P. Eagers Limited | APE | 14/09/15 | 12 | 100 |
| Cimic Group Ltd | CIM | 14/09/15 | 46 | 100 |
| Data#3 Limited | DTL | 14/09/15 | 4 | 100 |
| F.F.I. Holdings | FFI | 14/09/15 | 11 | 100 |
| Matrix C & E Ltd | MCE | 14/09/15 | 1 | 100 |
| Nine Entertainment | NEC | 14/09/15 | 5 | 100 |
| News Corp.. | NWS | 14/09/15 | 9 | 0 |
| News Corp.. - A Non-Voting Cdi | NWSLV | 14/09/15 | 9 | 0 |
| RXP Services Ltd | RXP | 14/09/15 | 1 | 100 |
