The local share market is expected to open slightly weaker this morning after U.S. markets traded cautiously and closed virtually flat despite some strong economic news. Building company James Hardie could be boosted by data that showed a pick up in sales of new homes in the U.S. The resource sector will be pressured today from lower oil and metals prices overnight.
The local share market closed higher on Wednesday with the S&P/ASX 200 Index gaining 49 points to 4,455 and on the futures market the SPI200’s down 10 points.
In currencies, at 8:45AM the Aussie Dollar is buying 82.77 US cents, 78 Yen, 58.09 Euro cents and 50.98 Pence Stirling.
In economic news: Data on private new capital expenditure for the June quarter will be released later today.
Among those companies reporting earnings results today we have; GPT, Ramsay Health Care, Roc Oil, Village Roadshow, Woolworths, Virgin Blue, Valad Property, Country Road, Crown, Tatts and Oz Minerals.
In company about this morning: Shares in Sino Gold Mining (ASX:SGX) were placed in a trading halt yesterday and last traded at $5.97. Overnight Canada's Eldorado Gold Corp said it will acquire all remaining shares in the gold miner for around $2 billion, ending speculation about a potential deal. The take over is an all-stock deal and Sino Gold shareholders will receive 0.55 Eldorado shares for each Sino sharethey own. The takeover is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to be finalized towards the end of the year. In June Eldorado acquired a 20 per cent stake in the company from South African company Gold Fields. Sino Gold Mining reported a bigger net loss in 2008 compared to the losses in previous years.
Mirvac Group (ASX:MGR) shares closed 6.37% higher at $1.34 yesterday. Overnight Dubai's biggest state-owned property developer, Nakheel, says it has sold its stake in Mirvac Group because it needs cash to repay debt obligations. Nakheel sold 172 million Mirvac shares to Deutsche Securities for $200 million. In the last 5 years, Mirvac posted its strongest result in 2007 and saw a significant drop in 2008 net profit.
Checking ex-dividends, and among those companies going ex-dividend today we have ASX which is paying a 74.5 cent fully franked dividend, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank which is paying 15 cent fully franked and Insurance Australia Group is paying 6 cents a share fully franked.
To the international scoreboard: US markets ended generally flat on Wednesday. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 4 points while the S&P500 Index and the NASDAQ were steady.
European markets were lower: London’s FTSE lost 26 points, Paris declined 12 points and Frankfurt fell 35 points.
Asian markets were higher: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 21 points. Tokyo’s Nikkei improved 142 points and China’s SSE Composite rose 52 points.
Looking at Metals: Gold lost $0.20 to US$945.80 an ounce for the December contract on Comex. Silver is down 6 cents to US$14.29 and copper is steady at US$2.88.
Oil dropped $0.62 cents to US$71.43 a barrel for October light crude in New York.
