Following a positive lead from Wall St overnight the local share market may open stronger this morning, however the tone of the market is likely to be set by a string of company earnings results due out today. Higher oil and gold prices may lift the gold miners and energy stocks.
On Tuesday the local share market closed slightly lower with the S&P/ASX 200 Index down 7 points to 4,382 and on the futures market the SPI200’s up 23 points.
Checking currencies at 8:40AM the Aussie Dollar is buying 82.66 US cents, 78.4 Yen, 58.5 Euro cents and 49.94 Pence Stirling.
In economic news: The Westpac Melbourne Institute indices of economic activity for June are to be released, as well as the Housing Industry Association outlook for the June quarter.
In company earnings results out today: Among those companies reporting earnings results today, we have Qantas, Origin Energy, Boral and Woodside Petroleum.
Making news this morning: China has agreed to buy $50 billion worth of liquefied natural gas over the next 20 years from the proposed North West Shelf Gorgon development. PetroChina will buy 2.25 million tonnes of LNG a year from the Gorgon project offshore Western Australia. The Sydney Morning Herald reports Resources Minister Martin Ferguson saying the agreement is testimony to the strength of Australia’s continuing trade and investment relationship with China. The deal he says will significantly boost Australia’s GDP.
Now turning to company news: Shares in Dexus Property Group (ASX:DXS) fell 7.14 per cent to $0.72 yesterday. The company posted a loss of $1.46 billion for the full year and says it expects conditions to remain challenging in the coming year. The loss compares to a profit of $438.3 million a year ago. Operating profit for the year to June 30 rose 5.7 per cent to $526.3 million, from $498 million the year before. CEO Victor Hoog Antink says the economic downturn has resulted in a slight decline in occupancy and retention rates, saying that property values are likely to decline further. Dexus says it expects to deliver earnings of 7.3 cents a security and distributions of around 5.1 cents a security in the 2010 financial year. Dexus Property Group’s 2008 net profit took a massive fall from the previous years high of $446.3 million.
Shares in advertising and communications company STW Communications Group Ltd (ASX:SGN) dropped 0.69 per cent to $0.72 yesterday. The company has reported an 8 per cent rise in first half profit. Net profit for the six months to June 30 came to $12.8 million, up from $11.9 million the year before, with underlying net profit down 19 per cent to $13.9 million. For the full year the company forecasts underlying net profit of $33 million compared to $39.1 million the year before. Revenue in the first half fell 6 per cent to $138.2 million. CEO Michael Connaghan says the financial performance of the vast majority of entities within the portfolio has been satisfactory despite the economic conditions. STW Communications 2008 net profit more than halved from its result in 2007.
Checking ex-dividends and going ex dividend today we have Reckon with a 3 cent fully franked dividend.
To the international scoreboard - US markets rose on Tuesday. The Dow Jones industrial average up 83 points. The S&P500 Index gained 10 points and the NASDAQ rose 25 points.
European markets were also higher: London’s FTSE up 41 points, Paris is 31 points higher and Frankfurt gained 49 points.
Asian markets were stronger: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 169 points. Tokyo’s Nikkei rose 16 points and China's SSE Composite advanced 40 points.
Looking at Metals: Gold rose US$3.40 to US$939.20 an ounce for the December contract on Comex. For the September contract Silver is down 2 cents to US$13.96 and copper is down 1 cent at US$2.76.
And finally, oil added $2.44 to US$69.19 a barrel for September light crude in New York.
