The Australian share market looks like it may be in for a mixed start this morning after stocks on Wall St dropped overnight following the release of some weaker than expected manufacturing and labour market data, however higher metals and oil prices is likely to give resource stocks a boost today.
The Australian share market closed lower on Wednesday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index finished 10 points lower at 4,744 and on the futures market the SPI200’s down 8 points.
Checking currencies at 8:30 AM the Aussie Dollar is buying 88.4 US cents, 79.39 Yen, 60.4 Euro cents and 55.23 Pence Sterling.
In economic news out today: ABS engineering construction activity data for June is to be released, as well as the Australian Industry Group/PricewaterhouseCoopers Australian performance of manufacturing index for September, and the launch of the Housing Industry Association/Australian Industry Group/Reed Construction 100 2008/2009 list.
In company news this morning: Shares in global mining giant BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) fell 0.68 per cent to $37.73 yesterday. The miner has made its first shipment of radioactive material from its Olympic Dam mine in South Australia to unnamed customers in China. According to a Fairfax report BHP did not give many details on the shipment, but it comes before the timing that was originally envisaged for a nuclear safeguards pact signed by former Prime Minister John Howard and Beijing. Fairfax reports that China is building 13 nuclear reactors and has become the largest buyer of uranium with demand estimated to increase to 20,000 tonnes of uranium annually. BHP’s 2009 net profit of US$5.877 billion was a far cry from its high of US$15.4 billion in 2008.
Shares in engineering company Monadelphous Group Ltd (ASX:MND) declined 2.19 per cent to $13.38 yesterday. The company says it has secured two new three year maintenance services contracts with Rio Tinto Iron Ore’s Coastal and Inland West Operations in Western Australia worth approximately $100 million in total. The company says the scope of work includes any maintenance services across various Rio Tinto Iron Ore’s Pilbara sites. Managing director Rob Velletri says these two contract wins support the company’s strategic goal of growing its recurring revenue base through long term relationships with blue chip customers. Monadelphous Group’s 2009 net profit was $74.24 million; it’s highest in five years.
Checking ex-dividends, and there is just one company going ex-dividend today and that is Reece with a 33 cent fully franked dividend.
To the international scoreboard: U.S. stocks finished lower on Wednesday, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 30 points. The S&P500 Index lost 4 points and the NASDAQ slipped 2 points.
European markets were also weaker: London’s FTSE down 26 points, Paris dropped 19 points and Frankfurt lost 38 points.
Asian markets were mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 58 points. Tokyo’s Nikkei was up 33 and China’s SSE Composite gained 25 points.
Looking at Metals: Gold gained $14.90 to US$1009.30 an ounce for the December contract on Comex. Silver added 48 cents to US$16.66 and copper is 9 cents higher at US$2.82.
And the price of oil is $3.90 stronger at US$70.61 a barrel for November light crude in New York.
