Following negative leads, the Australian share market looks set to open flat. U.S. markets closed lower on Friday, with investors holding fire until this week’s central bank meeting. Bank stocks led Friday’s fall, after Deutsche Bank was hit with a $14B fine by the U.S. Justice Department. And Apple pared some of its substantial weekly gains, slipping just over half a percent.
US economic news
Both YoY and MoM inflation data out of the U.S. on Friday showed signs of upward pricing pressure, strengthening the economic outlook and slightly firming market expectations of a rate hike. The Fed will meet this week, however most analysts believe it is still too soon for the central bank to raise rates. September consumer sentiment came in below expectations at 89.8, holding steady on Augusts’ data.
Markets
Wall Street closed lower on Friday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.5 per cent to close at 18,124, the S&P 500 fell 0.4 per cent to close at 2,139 and the NASDAQ slipped 0.1 per cent to close at 5,245.
European markets closed lower: London’s FTSE dropped 0.3 per cent, Paris lost 0.9 per cent and Frankfurt tumbled 1.5 per cent.
Asian markets closed up: Tokyo’s Nikkei added 0.7 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.6 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite was closed.
The Australian share market closed higher on Friday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 57 points up to finish at 5,297. The market was down 43 points on the week. On the futures market the SPI is flat at 5275
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 7:20AM was buying $US74.85 cents, 57.60 Pence Sterling, 76.49 Yen and 67.11 Euro cents.
Company news
Automotive Holdings Group Limited
(ASX:AHG) has announced its share purchase plan has closed oversubscribed. The company offered existing shareholders the opportunity to subscribe for up $15,000 of new shares, with a total of $23 million raised from nearly 2300 shareholders. New shares were issued last Friday and are eligible for AHG’s final dividend payout in October.
Shares in Automotive Group Holdings Ltd closed 1.63 per cent up on Friday at $4.37.
Emerald Resources NL
(ASX:EMR) has announced it has made its off-market takeover big for Renaissance Minerals Limited unconditional. Emerald will offer Renaissance shareholders 1.55 Emerald shares for every 1 Renaissance share. Renaissance’s independent directors have unanimously recommended shareholders accept the offer, which is due to close at 5pm on Wednesday the 26th of September.
Shares in Emerald Resources NL closed 2.08 per cent lower on Friday at $0.047.
Ex-dividends
4 companies are going ex-dividend today. Vocus Communications will pay 8 cents fully franked, Skydive the Beach Group will pay 1 cent fully franked, Resolute Mining will pay 1.7 cents unfranked and FFI Holdings will pay 11 cents fully franked.
Commodities
Gold has dropped $7.80 to $US1,310 an ounce for the December contract on Comex.
Silver has fallen $0.18 to $18.86 for December.
Copper is steady at $2.16 a pound for December.
Oil has dropped $0.90 to $US43.62 a barrel for October light crude in New York.
