Another positive session on Wall St overnight is likely to influence the local market this morning which is expected to open higher. Energy companies may get a boost from a rise in the price of oil, however miners are likely to feel the pressure from a fall in base metals prices and gold.
The local share market finished flat on Tuesday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 2 points lower at 4,522 and on the futures market the SPI200’s up 31 points.
Checking currencies at 8:40AM the Aussie dollar is buying 86.24 US cents, 79.39 Yen, 59.27 Euro cents and 52.15 Pence Stirling.
In economic news: ABS labour force data for August is due out today, as well as the Melbourne Institute’s survey of consumer inflationary expectations for September, and the Westpac/Melbourne Institute’s survey of consumer unemployment expectations also for September.
In company news about this morning: Shares in wealth management company AMP Ltd (ASX:AMP) fell 0.32 per cent to $6.20 yesterday. Two of the company’s unlisted property trusts are to raise $550 million. According to a report in The Australian, two of the AMP Capital Investors unlisted property trusts; AMP Capital Wholesale Office Fund and AMP Capital Shopping Centre Fund are to raise the money on the corporate money market. AMP Capital Wholesale Office Fund is to raise $300 million, while AMP Capital Shopping Centre Fund is to raise $250 million through the issue of convertible notes. The paper reports AMP Capital office fund manager Henry Elliott saying that the funds will be used to repay debt and to build up cash for acquisitions. AMP’s profits took a big fall in 2008 from the previous years high of close to $1 billion.
Shares in grocery and liquor marketer Metcash Ltd (ASX:MTS) lost 0.23 per cent to $4.37 yesterday. The company has announced that its liquor division, Australian Liquor Marketers, will stop supplying Woolworths Ltd (ASX:WOW) subsidiary ALH Group’s liquor requirements in Queensland when its supply contract ends on June 30 2010. Woolworths has decided to commission a distribution centre in Queensland to service its own supply. The ending of this supply contract represents a projected sales loss in the 2011 financial year of around $420 million and an associated impact on Metcash’s earnings per share of 77 cents a share. CEO Andrew Reitzer says while the loss of Woolworths volumes will have a financial impact on its liquor business and Metcash Group in its 2011 financial year, the company has already commenced strategic initiatives to replace some of the lost volume and reduce costs. Metcash’s 2009 net profit of $202.5 million was its best in five years.
Checking the ex-dividend scoreboard, and among those companies going today we have Country Road with an 8.13 cent fully franked dividend, Dominion Mining with an 8 cent unfranked dividend, GUD Holdings with a 33 cent fully franked dividend and Panoramic Resources with a 2 cent fully franked dividend.
To the international scoreboard: U.S. Markets closed higher on Wednesday. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 50 points. The S&P500 Index up 8 points and the NASDAQ added 23 points.
European markets were also stronger: London’s FTSE rose 57 points, Paris up 47 points and Frankfurt added 93 points.
Asian markets were mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 219 points. Tokyo’s Nikkei fell 81 points and China’s SSE Composite added 16.
Looking at Metals: Gold is down $2.70 at US$997.10 an ounce for the December contract on Comex. Silver fell 4 cents to US$16.47 and copper is 3 cents lower at US$2.92.
And finally, oil rose 21 cents to US$71.31 a barrel for October light crude in New York.
