Australian shares will struggle for positive gains after US stocks ended 2015 on a downer in low trading volumes ahead of the New Years Day holiday. The Dow Jones registered a 2.2 per cent loss over the trading year, the first down year since 2008 whilst the Nasdaq managed an advance of 5.7 per cent over 2015.
Markets
Wall Street closed lower ahead of the new year: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1 per cent to close at 17,425, the S&P 500 lost 0.9 per cent to close at 2,044 and the NASDAQ lost 1.2 per cent to close at 5,007.
European markets closed lower: London’s FTSE ended 0.5 per cent down, Paris lost 0.9 per cent and Frankfurt was closed on New Year’s Eve.
Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei was also closed New Years, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lifted 0.2 per cent, whilst China’s Shanghai Composite did not trade.
The Australian share market closed lower in short trade on Thursday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 24 points down to finish at 5,296, ending 88 points higher on the week. On the futures market the SPI is 33 points down.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 7:30AM was buying 72.96 US cents, 49.52 Pence Sterling, 87.72 Yen and 67.21 Euro cents.
Economic news
Due out today from AIG is the Manufacturing Index for December.
Company news
Tiger Resources Limited
(ASX:TGS) says Neil Fearis has stepped down as chairman. He is replaced by Mark Connelly effective immediately. The appointment comes soon after the African copper miner significantly reduced the cost of its debt freeing up valuable capital. Shares in Tiger Resources last traded 3.85 per cent lower at $0.05.
And China Integrated Media Corporation
(ASX:CIK) says it is now expecting to record a profit of up to $2.1 million for 2015 calendar year. This is in comparison to a $900,000 loss in 2014. The uptick is attributed to the sales of Marvel 3DPro super workstations from its Marvel Digital acquisition earlier in 2015. Shares in China Integrated Media last traded at $0.20.
Ex-dividends One company is trading ex-dividend today: Clime Capital Limited
(ASX:CAM) will pay 1.2 cents fully franked.
Commodities
Gold has added 30 cents to $1060 an ounce for the February contract on Comex. Silver has advanced 2 cents to $13.80 for March. Copper is flat at $2.14 a pound. Oil has added 3 cents to US$37.04 for February light crude in New York.
