Following mixed leads, the Australian sharemarket looks set to open lower. Shares on Wall Street closed mixed as stocks in the healthcare space attempted to offset falls in energy shares off the back a slip in the oil price.
Markets
Wall Street closed mixed yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.2 per cent to close at 17,706, the S&P 500 added 0.1 per cent to close at 2,059 and the NASDAQ gained 0.3 per cent to close at 4,750.
European markets closed mixed: London’s FTSE lost 0.2 per cent, Paris gained 0.5 per cent and Frankfurt gained 1.1 per cent.
Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei added 0.7per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.2 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite fell 2.8 per cent.
The Australian share market closed higher yesterday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 29 points up to finish at 5,321. On the futures market the SPI is 16 points down.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 7:20AM was buying $US0.7316cents, 50.78 Pence Sterling, 79.30 Yen and 64.27 Euro cents.
Company news
IMF Bentham Limited
(ASX:IMF) has agreed to provide additional funding to one of its existing funded matters in the US, being funded by IMF’s wholly owned subsidiary, Bentham Capital LLC. The additional claim value which IMF will include in its Quarterly Investment Portfolio Report for the matter is $25 million. Shares in IMF Bentham closed 1.88 percent up yesterday at $1.355.
Cardinal Resources
(ASX:CDV) has completed its second tranche placement. Following approval at the general meeting of shareholders, the company has allotted more than 6 million fully paid ordinary shares at 12c per share. Shares in Cardinal Resources closed 4.35 percent lower yesterday at $0.22.
Commodities
Gold has lost $27.00 to $US1,267 an ounce for the June contract on Comex.
Silver has lost $0.44 to $17.09 for July.
Copper has lost $0.05 to $2.11 a pound.
Oil has lost $1.22 to $US43.44 a barrel for June light crude in New York.
