Following weak leads from Wall Street, the Australian share market looks set to open in negative territory this morning. It was the healthcare space that was responsible for dragging down the Dow, along with weakness in the price of oil. US-listed shares of Canadian drug maker Valeant crashed 19 per cent at the close of trade, after coming under pressure recently in relation to its drug prices.
Global markets
Wall Street closed lower yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.3 per cent to close at 17,169, the S&P 500 lost 0.6 per cent to close at 2,019 and the NASDAQ lost 0.8 per cent to close at 4,840.
European markets closed higher: London’s FTSE gained 0.05 per cent, Paris added 0.5 per cent and Frankfurt gained 0.9 per cent.
Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei added 1.9 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Sengdidn’t trade due to a holiday, and China’s Shanghai Composite lost 3.1 per cent.
The Australian share market closed higher yesterday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 13 points higher to finish at 5,248. On the futures market the SPI is down 36 points.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 8:20AM was buying 72.13 cents, 46.83 Pence Sterling, 86.49 Yen and 63.64 Euro cents.
Economic news
Due out today from the Australian Bureau of Statistics is detailed jobs market data for the month of October. Also today Reserve Bank Assistant Governor (Financial Markets) Malcolm Edey will deliver a presentation at the International Swaps and Derivatives Association’s 2015 Annual Australia Conference in Sydney.
Company news Auckland International Airport Limited
(ASX:AIA) is considering an offer of seven year fixed rate bonds to New Zealand retail investors and to institutional investors. The Airport has appointed BNZ and Westpac as Joint Lead Managers in relation to the bond offer. Shares in Auckland Airport closed up 0.41 per cent to $4.85.
Ex-dividends Two companies are going ex-dividend today: Ridley Corporation
(ASX:RIC) will pay a fully-franked dividend of 2 cents and Sandon Capital Limited
(ASX:SNC) will pay a fully franked dividend of 3 cents.
Commodities
Gold has dropped $10.40 to $US1,167 an ounce for the December contract on Comex.
Silver has dropped 24 cents to $15.68 for December.
Copper has dropped by 1 cent to $2.36 a pound.
Oil has dropped by to $US1.09 to $45.20 a barrel for December light crude in New York.
