The Australian share market is likely to open lower this morning following a negative lead from Wall St at the end of last week on some disappointing earnings results. A rise in oil prices may give Energy stocks like Woodside Petroleum a boost today and help support the market.
The local market closed lower on Friday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 24 points at 4,836 and the SPI200 is down 14 points.
Checking currencies at 8:40 AM the Aussie Dollar is buying 91.47 US cents, 83.31 Yen, 61.39 Euro cents and 56.09 Pence Sterling.
Coming up in economic news this week: The ABS will release data on international merchandise imports for September on Tuesday, the ABS is also to release figures on sales of new motor vehicles for September on Wednesday. The Westpac/Melbourne Institute Indices of Economic Activity for August are out Wednesday as well.
To what’s making company news this morning: Shares in iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) gained 1.96 per cent to $4.17 on Friday. The company has posted a net loss of US$18 million for the three months to September 30 due in part to a note liability and a foreign exchange adjustment. The result compares to a profit of US$99 million for the same period last year. The miner says the loss was impacted by a US$68 million increase in the value of the Leucadia Note liability and a US$25 million foreign exchange adjustment. Fortescue also reported that it shipped 9.53 million tonnes in the September quarter, up from 7.98 million tonnes in the June quarter. Fortescue Metals Group pulled itself out of the red to post a profit of $508 million in 2009.
Shares in printing and distribution company PMP Ltd (ASX:PMP) declined 4.76 per cent to $0.60 on Friday. PMP has lost its contract with Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX:WES) Kmart. According to the Australian Financial Review Wesfarmers has decided not to use PMP to distribute its Kmart catalogues, and instead given the contract to Salmat. The Financial Review says the loss in revenue for PMP is around $15 million a year. Wesfarmers is also reportedly reviewing its printing and distribution contracts for its Coles supermarkets and Target divisions, which it splits between PMP and others. After four years of profits PMP posted a loss of $27.1 million in 2009.
To the ex-dividend scoreboard: And among those companies going ex-dividend today we have Australian Leaders Fund with a 3 cent fully franked dividend, Amcom Telecom with a 0.5 cent fully franked dividend, and Ausdrill with a 6 cent fully franked dividend.
To international markets: US Markets closed lower on Friday. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 67 points. The S&P500 Index dropped 9 points and the NASDAQ finished 16 points lower.
European markets were also weaker. London’s FTSE is down 33 points, Paris dropped 56 points and Frankfurt fell 87 points.
Asian markets were mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 69. Tokyo’s Nikkei added 19 points and China’s SSE Composite lost 3.
Looking at metals: the price of Gold added $0.90 to US$1051.50 an ounce for the December contract on Comex. Silver gained 1 cent to US$17.42 and copper fell 1 cent to US$2.85.
And the price of oil is $0.95 higher at US$78.53 a barrel for November light crude in New York.
