Following negative overseas leads, the Australian share market looks set to open lower. Both Wall Street and European stocks plummeted as the resources rout continues. Investors shed shares in energy and mining stocks amidst renewed concerns surrounding the global macro outlook.
Markets
Wall Street closed lower yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.9 per cent to close at 17,568, the S&P 500 lost 0.7 per cent to close at 2,064 and the NASDAQ lost 0.1 per cent to close at 5,098.
European markets closed lower: London’s FTSE lost 1.4 per cent, Paris lost 1.6 per cent and Frankfurt lost nearly 2 per cent.
Asian markets closed lower: Tokyo’s Nikkei lost 1 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.3 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite lost 1.9 per cent.
The Australian share market closed lower yesterday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 47 points down to finish at 5,109. On the futures market the SPI is 23 points down.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 8:20AM was buying $US0.7213 cents, 48.07 Pence Sterling, 88.7 Yen and 66.23 Euro cents.
Economic news
Due out today from the Australian Bureau of Statistics is housing finance data for October. The Westpac/Melbourne Institute survey of consumer sentiment for December is also due for release.
Company news
Regis Resources Limited
(ASX:RRL) has become a significant new shareholder in mineral exploration company Malagasy Minerals. Regis Resources took up more than 38 million shares in Malagasy Minerals in an oversubscribed share placement. Shares in Regis Resources closed 0.49 per cent up yesterday at $2.06
Orion Health Group Limited
(ASX:OHE) has announced the launch of its global offering Amadeus. The health-tech provider said Amadeus is an open-data platform that scales to aggregate and manage different types of health-related data. Shares in Orion Health closed steady at $3.03.
Ex-dividends | Name | Code | Date | Amount(cents) | Franking |
| Fisher & Paykel H. | FPH | 9/12/15 | 6.1 | 0 |
| Gazal Corporation | GZL | 9/12/15 | 35.0 | 100 |
Commodities
Gold has lost $1 to $US1,074 an ounce for the February contract on Comex.
Silver has lost $0.20 to $14.13 for March.
Copper has gained $0.01 to $2.05 a pound.
Oil has lost $0.06 to $US37.59 a barrel for January light crude in New York.
