Following Wall St’s rally overnight, Aussie shares are likely to open stronger this morning. U.S. stocks advanced on Monday after some merger and acquisition activity boosted optimism about share values, investors tipping more could be on the way.
The Australian share market closed lower on Monday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index finished 36 points lower at 4,677 and on the futures market the SPI200’s up 56 points.
Checking currencies at 8:35 AM the Aussie Dollar is buying 87.29 US cents, 78.32 Yen, 59.71 Euro cents and 54.96 Pence Sterling. In company news this morning: Shares in Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX:ANZ) rose 2.27 per cent to $24.33 yesterday. The bank says it has officially opened its first rural bank in western China, making it the first Australian bank, and one of the first international banks, to enter China’s rural market. The Chongqing Liangping ANZ Rural Bank is located in Liangping Country in Western China, which has been identified as a priority area for rural development and investment by the Chongqing government and China Banking Regulatory Commission. According to The Australian CEO Mike Smith says it is the first step of a strategy that will see the bank open up to 50 branches across the country within the next five years. ANZ’s 2008 net profit took a tumble from its high of $4.2 billion in 2007.
Hydrocarbon explorer Karoon Gas Australia Ltd (ASX:KAR) dropped 7.83 per cent to $7.30 yesterday. The company and partner in a joint venture offshore Western Australia, ConocoPhillips, says the Kontiki well has now been plugged and abandoned after some disappointing drilling results. The company says drilling data indicated some gas saturation in poor reservoir quality sands. The Kontiki 1 is the second well in a multi-well drilling program in the Browse Basin offshore Western Australia. Karoon says it will now focus on the Poseidon 2 exploration well, where drilling will commence immediately. Karoon Gas Australia has posted net losses in the last five years.
Checking ex-dividends, and going today we have Cromwell with a 2 cent unfranked dividend, Ocean Capital with an 1.5 cent fully franked dividend, RCR Tomlinson with a 2.5 cent fully franked dividend, Skilled with a 1.5 cent fully franked dividend and Vision Group with a 2.5 cent fully franked dividend.
To the international scoreboard: U.S. stocks finished higher on Monday, with the Dow Jones industrial average gained 124 points. The S&P500 Index rose 19 points and the NASDAQ added 40 points.
European markets were also higher: London’s FTSE rose 84 points, Paris added 86 points and Frankfurt gained 155 points.
Asian markets were weaker: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 436 points. Tokyo’s Nikkei was down 256 and China’s SSE Composite dropped 75 points.
Looking at Metals: Gold gained $2.50 to US$994.10 an ounce for the December contract on Comex. Silver rose 14 cents to US$16.20 and copper fell 1 cent to US$2.73.
And the price of oil is 82 cents higher at US$66.84 a barrel for November light crude in New York.
