The Australian sharemarket looks set to kick off this short trading week in the red on open, following tepid overseas leads. Energy shares weighed on Wall Street as US investors prepare for a week of key economic data reads culminating in the high-importance non-farm payrolls on Friday.
US pending home sales grew 3.5 percent month-on-month in February. Data released by the National Association of Realtors rebounded to a seven-month high in February led by a large increase in the Midwest.
Markets
Wall Street closed mixed yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.1 per cent to close at 17,535, the S&P 500 added 0.05 per cent to close at 2,037 and the NASDAQ lost 0.1 per cent to close at 4,767.
European markets were closed in observance of the long Easter weekend.
Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei added 0.8 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was closed, and China’s Shanghai Composite fell 0.7 per cent.
The Australian share market closed lower on Thursday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 58 points down to finish at 5,084, down 82 points on the week. On the futures market the SPI is 12 points down.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 7:30AM was buying $US0.7547 cents, 52.97 Pence Sterling, 85.6 Yen and 67.43 Euro cents.
Company news
Decmil Group Limited
(ASX:DCG) has announced the acquisition of the business assets of Scope Australia Pty Limited, for $1.68 million on a cash free and debt free basis. Scope Australia delivers study, project management, engineering and design consultancy services to a range of industry sectors; generating $7.3 million in revenue in FY 2015. Shares in Decmil Group closed 2.3 per cent lower yesterday at $0.85.
Eureka Group Holdings Limited
(ASX:EGH) has been approached by Island Resorts Pty Limited to re-engineer certain assets on Couran Cove Island Resorts, Queensland into a seniors rental village, and to provide infrastructure management services. Eureka has said this transaction will occur if Island Resorts is successful in acquiring Couran Cove. Shares in Eureka Group Holdings closed 0.79 per cent lower yesterday at $0.63.
Ex-dividends
2 companies are going ex-dividend today: Australian Leaders will pay a dividend of 5 cents fully franked. Traditional Therapy will pay a 2.5 cent dividend, unfranked.
Commodities
Gold has lost $1.30 to $US1,222 an ounce for the April contract on Comex.
Silver has gained $0.04 to $15.23 for May.
Copper has gained $0.01 to $2.24 a pound.
Oil has lost $0.08 to $US39.38 a barrel for April light crude in New York.
