Following strong leads from Wall street overnight, the Australian share market looks set to commence its shortened, Christmas Eve trading session in positive territory this morning. The energy space in the US was by and large the star performer, after a rebound in the price of oil price.
Global markets
Wall Street closed higher yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.1 per cent to close at 17,602, the S&P 500 added 1.2 per cent to close at 2,064 and the NASDAQ added 0.9 per cent to close at 5,046.
European markets closed higher: London’s FTSE added 2.6 per cent, Paris gained 2.3 per cent and Frankfurt added 2.3 per cent.
Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei was on holiday and last traded at 18,887, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 1 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite lost 0.4 per cent.
The Australian share market closed higher yesterday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 24 points higher to finish at 5,142. On the futures market the SPI is 72 points higher.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 8:20AM was buying $US0.7242 cents, 48.71 Pence Sterling, 87.53 Yen and 66.36 Euro cents.
Company news McAleese Limited
(ASX:MCS) has announced its oil and gas division has successfully tendered for a new LPG cartage contract with Elgas. The oil and gas division is a long standing supplier to Elgas, the new contract extending this relationship for a further five years from the 1st of January 2016. Increased volumes are expected to deliver total revenues of about $50 million per annum. Shares in closed McAleese closed 1.96 per cent lower yesterday at $0.05.
Commodities
Gold has lost $4.80 to $US1,069 an ounce for the February contract on Comex.
Silver has lost $0.02 to $14.29 for March.
Copper has gained $0.02 to $2.13 a pound.
Oil has added $1.68 to $US37.82 a barrel for January light crude in New York.
