The Australian share market is expected to open lower today after Wall Street shares fell for a third consecutive session on Friday.
The Australian share market closed higher on Friday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index finished 12 points higher at 4,713 and on the futures market the SPI200’s down 20 points.
Checking currencies at 8:35 AM the Aussie Dollar is buying 86.67 US cents, 77.42 Yen, 58.97 Euro cents and 54.53 Pence Sterling. In company news this morning: Fairfax Media (ASX:FXJ) shares closed slightly lower on Friday, down 0.88% to $1.68. The Australian Financial Review is reporting that the media group’s independent directors want Roger Corbett as the new chairman if he receives the support of institutional investors today and tomorrow. The directors want to appoint Mr Corbett as chairman-elect at the next board meeting mid October. Fairfax Chairman Ron Walker is expected to announce as early as today that he won’t be standing for re-election at the company’s annual meeting in November. Looking at net profit results for Fairfax Media, the company’s 2008 result of $386 million was followed the year after with a $380 million loss.
Shares in Fortescue Metals Group (ASX:FMG) closed lower on Friday, slipping 1.96% to $4.01. Fortescue Metals Group will be looking for a new chief financial officer after the resignation of Michael Minosora on Friday. Mr Minsora has taken the role as managing director at pearl marketing and mining company Atlantic. His resignation comes just days ahead of Fortescue deadline this Wednesday to secure a $7 billion debt funding package from China. Checking the net profit results for Fortescue Metals Group the companies posted a $2.5 billion loss in 2008.
Checking ex-dividends, and there are a number going today – in particular Consolidated Media Holdings, with a 6 cent unfranked dividend and Crown with a 19 cent 60% franked dividend.
To the international scoreboard: Wall finished lower on Friday, with the Dow Jones industrial down 42 points. The S&P500 Index dropped 6 points and the NASDAQ fell 17 points.
European markets were mixed: London’s FTSE rose 3 points, Paris lost 19 points and Frankfurt dropped 24 points.
Asian markets were weaker: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 26 points. Tokyo’s Nikkei was down 278 and China’s SSE Composite dropped 15 points.
Looking at Metals: Gold slipped $7.30 to US$991.60 an ounce for the December contract on Comex. Silver fell 24 cents to US$16.06 and copper rose 3 cents to US$2.74.
And the price of oil was 13 cents higher to US$66.02 a barrel for November light crude in New York.
