Following negative leads, the Australian share market looks set to open lower this morning, as local investors brace for another rocky day on the local market, following Friday’s steep local and global losses. US stocks plunged more than 3 percent on Friday, with financials feeling the brunt, dropping 5.4 percent. The Nikkei also took a beating, posting its biggest loss in 16 years, as investors took safe haven in the yen, driving the currency up against the dollar and hurting exports.
US economic news
New home sales for the month of May fell to 551,000, coming in below market expectations of 560,000. New orders for manufactured durable goods also shrank 2.2 percent in May, well below market expectations of a 0.5 percent decline.
Markets
Wall Street closed lower on Friday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 3.4 per cent to close at 17,401, the S&P 500 dropped 3.6 per cent to close at 2,037 and the NASDAQ fell 4.1 per cent to close at 4,708.
European markets closed lower: London’s FTSE dropped 3.2 per cent, Paris fell 8 per cent and Frankfurt was down 6.8 per cent.
Asian markets closed lower: Tokyo’s Nikkei fell 7.9 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 2.9 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite lost 1.3 per cent.
The Australian share market closed lower on Friday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 168 points down to finish at 5,113. Over the week the index lost 50 points. On the futures market the SPI is 3 points up.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 7:20AM was buying $US74.31 cents, 55.32 Pence Sterling, 75.66 Yen and 67.38 Euro cents.
Company News
oOH!Media Limited
(ASX:OML) has announced it has agreed to acquire online content and publishing company Junkee Media Pty Limited. oOh! will acquire 85 percent of Junkee Media for $11.05M, with a right to acquire the remaining 15 percent of shares from the three remaining Junkee shareholders.
Shares in oOH!Media Limited closed 3.70 per cent lower on Friday at $4.95
Xenith IP Group Limited
(ASX:XIP) has revised its earnings guidance upwards for FY16, citing strong trading performance across all areas of the business. The intellectual property business now anticipates a Pro Forma EBITDA in the range of $8.8M to $9.0M for the current financial year, an 8 percent increase over its earlier forecasts.
Shares in Xenith IP Group Limited closed 4.13 per cent lower on Friday at $3.95.
Ex-dividends
1 company is going ex-dividend today. Oriental Technologies Investment Limited will pay 1 cent unfranked.
Commodities
Gold has gained $59.30 to $US1,322 an ounce for the August contract on Comex.
Silver has added $0.43 to $17.84 for July.
Copper has dropped $0.05 to $2.12 a pound for July.
Oil has fallen $2.47 to $US47.64 a barrel for July light crude in New York.
