Following weak overseas leads, the Australian share market looks set to open lower. Reporting season continued to dominate Wall St. Yahoo missed on earnings, as did Harley-Davidson who reported weaker-than-expected earnings alongside planned job cuts. United Technologies was one of the day’s gainers as profit beat estimates.
Meanwhile US housing starts rose 6.5 percent in September, in data released by the Commerce Department.
Markets
Wall Street closed lower yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.1 per cent to close at 17,217, the S&P 500 lost 0.1 per cent to close at 2,031 and the NASDAQ lost 0.5 per cent to close at 4,881.
European markets closed lower: London’s FTSE lost 0.1 per cent, Paris lost 0.6 per cent and Frankfurt lost 0.2 per cent.
Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei gained 0.4 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.4 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite gained 1.1 per cent.
The Australian share market closed lower yesterday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 34 points down to finish at 5,236. On the futures market the SPI is 14 points down.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 8:20AM was buying $US0.7262cents, 47.07 Pence Sterling, 87.05 Yen and 64.02 Euro cents.
Company news
St Barbara Limited
(ASX:SBM) has reported gold production of 111,039 ounces in the three months to September. The gold producer also announced record quarterly production at its Simberi operation of 29,539 ounces. Shares in St Barbara Limited closed 3.32 per cent lower yesterday at $1.31
UXC Limited
(ASX:UXC) subsidiary UXC Eclipse has acquired the Microsoft Dynamics AX and Microsoft Business Intelligence divisions of Koorb Consulting in New Zealand. UXC’s Managing Director Cris Nicolli said the acquisition highlights renewed focus on the APAC region. Shares in UXC Limited closed flat yesterday at $1.20.
Ex-dividends
| Name | Code | Date | Amount(cents) | Franking |
| Global Value Fnd Ltd | GVF | 21/10/15 | 2.0 | 100 |
| McPherson's Ltd | MCP | 21/10/15 | 2.0 | 100 |
| Naos Absolute Opp | NAC | 21/10/15 | 2.0 | 100 |
Commodities
Gold has gained $3.00 to $US1,176 an ounce for the December contract on Comex.
Silver has gained $0.06 to $15.90 for December. Copper has lost $0.01 to $2.36 a pound.
Oil has lost $0.36 to $US45.92 a barrel for November light crude in New York.
