Following negative leads, the Australian share market looks set to open lower this morning. US markets pulled back overnight, with the Dow snapping a nine day rally. Oil retreated amid fears of a global stockpile glut while disappointing earnings from Southwest Airlines drove stocks lower across the aviation sector.
US economic news
Positive data on both the jobs and home sales front was released on Thursday. Initial weekly jobless claims hit their lowest level since April, coming in at 253,000 for the week ended July 16th, while home sales increased by 1.1 percent to 5.57 million units for June.
Markets
Wall Street closed down yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.4 per cent to close at 18,517, the S&P 500 lost 0.4 per cent to close at 2,165 and the NASDAQ lost 0.3 per cent to close at 5,074.
European markets closed mixed: London’s FTSE dropped 0.4 per cent, Paris lost 0.1 per cent and Frankfurt was up 0.1 per cent.
Asian markets closed up: Tokyo’s Nikkei added 0.8 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.5 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.4 per cent.
The Australian share market closed higher yesterday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 24 points up to finish at 5,512. On the futures market the SPI is 32 points down.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 7:20AM was buying $US74.97 cents, 56.71 Pence Sterling, 79.33 Yen and 68.01 Euro cents.
Company news
Aurizon Holdings Limited
(ASX:AZJ) has announced it will write down its remaining $73 million stake in Aquila Resources. The decision was made in light of the deferral of the development of Aquila’s Queensland coal assets and a drop in the price of coking coal. Aurizon has also announced a plan to cut 20 percent of its management team as part of a series of transformation initiatives.
Shares Aurizon Holdings Limited closed 2.20 per cent up yesterday at $5.11.
Wellard Limited
(ASX:WLD) has announced it has rescheduled the delivery date for its M/V Ocean Kelpie vessel with its Croatian based shipbuilder Uljanik. The ship is now due for delivery in Q3 of FY18. The new production schedule will allow Wellard to postpone some stage payments and utilize cash in other areas of the business.
Shares in Wellard Limited closed 5.49 per cent up yesterday at $0.48.
Ex-dividends
1 company is going ex-dividend today: Class will pay 1 cent unfranked.
Commodities
Gold has gained $12.00 to $US1,331 an ounce for the August contract on Comex.
Silver has gained $0.22 to $19.84 for September.
Copper is steady at $2.26 a pound for September.
Oil has fallen $1.21 to $US44.54 a barrel for August light crude in New York.
