US stocks ended little changed on a short trading day following the Thanksgiving holiday giving our local stocks little in the way of direction
The ASX should open relatively flat ahead of an interest rate decision from the RBA on Tuesday while BHP Billiton continues to struggle with fallout from its tragedy in Brazil.
Markets
Wall Street closed mixed on Friday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.1 per cent to close at 17,798, the S&P 500 added 0.1 per cent to close at 2,090 and the NASDAQ gained 0.2 per cent to close at 5,128.
European markets closed lower: London’s FTSE shed 0.3 per cent, Paris also lost 0.3 per cent and Frankfurt slipped 0.2 per cent.
Asian markets closed down: Tokyo’s Nikkei retreated 0.3 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 1.9 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite tumbled 5.5 per cent.
The Australian share market closed lower ahead of the weekend: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 8 points down to finish at 5,203 to be 54 points down on the week. On the futures market the SPI is 1 point down.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 7:30AM was buying 71.96 US cents, 47.87 Pence Sterling, 88.45 Yen and 67.97 Euro cents.
Economic news
Due out today from TD-Melbourne Institute is the monthly inflation gauge and New Home sales from HIA.
Company news
Aspen Group
(ASX:APZ) says that income for the Aspen Parks Property Fund was down 16 per cent in the four months to October 2015 due to weakness from properties operating in the resource sector and subdued conditions in Western Australia. The fund is currently under and unsolicited off-market offer from Beston Parks. Shares in Aspen Group last traded 0.71 per cent lower at $1.39.
Wollongong Coal Limited
(ASX:WLC) says it has been granted a five year extension to its licence to extract coal from the Wongawili Colliery. Shares in Wollongon Coal last traded at less than 1 cent.
Ex-Dividends A number of companies are going ex-dividend today: Aristocrat Leisure
(ASX:ALL), Australian Master Yield Funds, Joyce Corporation
(ASX:JYC) and Technology One.
Commodities
Gold has shed $13.50 to US$1,056 an ounce for the December contract on Comex. Silver has slipped 13 cents to $14.05 for December. Copper has added 1 cent to $2.06 a pound. Oil has slipped $1.33 to US$41.71 a barrel for January light crude in New York.
