The local share market looks like it may open higher this morning after stocks on Wall St ended stronger overnight. However a trade rift developing between China and the U.S. hurt oil prices which may put pressure on energy stocks today.
The local market finished weaker on Monday with S&P/ASX 200 Index finished 65 points lower to 4,531 and on the futures market the SPI200’s up 46 points.
Checking currencies at 8:30am the Aussie Dollar is buying 86.2 US cents, 78.36 Yen, 58.93 Euro cents and 52 Pence Stirling.
In economic news: The RBA releases the minutes from its September 1 board meeting and figures on dwelling unit commencements for the month of June are due out today from the ABS.
In company about this morning: Shares in global miner Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) fell 1.99 per cent to $58.05 yesterday. Rio says it has sold a 56 per cent stake in the cable division of its Alcan Engineered Products business to U.S. based merger and acquisition specialist, Platinum Equity. According to the Australian Associated Press the terms of the deal are confidential with a transaction expected to be finalised in the coming weeks. Rio’s Alcan Engineered Products is made up of seven businesses, its cable division manufactures aluminium energy cable products in North America and China. Rio Tinto recorded net profit of US$3.7 billion in 2008 way off its result in 2007.
Shares in designer and manufacturer of vessels Austal Ltd (ASX:ASB) gained 2.06 per cent to $2.97 yesterday. The company says it has entered into a shipping contract with the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago for the design and construction of four 41 metre high speed passenger ferries. Austal says the contract is valued at $75 million and is the third commercial contract it has secured this year, which includes large vehicle ferries for European operators Virtu Ferries and Nordic Ferry Services. The company says construction of the four-vessel fleet will be shared across its Tasmanian and West Australian facilities with delivery scheduled for late 2010. Austal is currently building six fast patrol craft for the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard, due for delivery in early 2010. Austal’s 2009 net profit took a massive fall from its high in 2008.
Checking ex-dividends, and going today we have Chalmers with a 7 cent fully franked dividend, IOOF Holdings with a 4 cent fully franked dividend and Keycorp with a 1.5 cent fully franked dividend. To the international scoreboard: Wall Street closed higher on Monday. The Dow Jones industrial average up 21 points. The S&P500 Index gained 7 points and the NASDAQ added 11 points.
European markets were mixed: London’s FTSE rose 7 points, Paris lost 4 points and Frankfurt also dropped 4 points.
Asian markets were also mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 229 points. Tokyo’s Nikkei fell 242 points and China’s SSE Composite lifted 37 points.
Looking at Metals: Gold fell $5.30 to US$1001.10 an ounce for the December contract on Comex. Silver slipped 8 cents to US$16.62 and copper fell 4 cents to US$2.80.
And finally, oil fell $0.43 to US$68.86 a barrel for October light crude in New York.
