Australian shares are expected to open higher after U.S. markets rallied overnight with the Dow closing above the 10,000 level on lower jobless claims data and stronger October sales reports. Local gold companies will again rally as the price of the precious metal continues to advance although metal prices generally lost ground and and oil prices are mildly lower.
The local share market closed weaker yesterday with the S&P/ASX 200 Index declining 32 points at 4,508. Looking at the futures market the SPI200’s up 60 points.
Checking currencies at 8:50 AM the Aussie Dollar is buying 91 US cents, 82.56 Yen, 61.22 Euro cents and 54.91 Pence Sterling. In economic news, the Reserve Bank of Australia will release its quarterly statement on monetary policy. Also out today is the Australian Industry Group/Housing Industry Association October performance of construction index.
In company news, Cazaly Resources, Atlas Iron and Flinders Mines will hold their AGMs today. To what’s making company news this morning: Qantas (ASX:QAN) shares closed 1.5% lower yesterday at $2.62. Qantas’ 130 professional engineers have voted overwhelmingly in favour of taking industrial action against the airline which could see disruptions to flights in coming weeks. The engineers are required to approve any significant maintenance before aircraft are permitted to fly. The dispute is over the out-of-hours work required to maintain the airline's fleet and demand for pay parity with other workers. Members of the union, the Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers, will meet today in Sydney and Melbourne to decide what action to take. Qantas reported a sharply lower 2009 net profit compared to the 2008 result.
Oil Search (ASX:OSH) shares lost 1.19% yesterday to $5.83. Late yesterday the oil and gas producer reported its first discovery outside of Papua New Guinea. Oil Search said that testing had discovered hydrocarbons at its 60% owned Tubb'a-1 well in Block 3, Yemen. Oil Search said the well produced gas and condensate at rates up to nine million standard cubic feet per day and 450 barrels a day and said further work is underway to define the producing intervals. Oil Search’s 2008 net profit recovered from a drop in 2007.
Checking ex-dividends and the only stock going ex dividend today is GPT Group which is paying 1 cent unfranked. Monday will see a number of stocks going ex div including ARB and Westpac.
Over to international markets: Wall Street rallied - The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 204 points to close above the 10,000 level. The S&P500 Index added 20 points and the NASDAQ improved 50 points.
European markets were stronger. London’s FTSE rose 18 points, Paris added 38 points and Frankfurt is up 37.
Asian markets were mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 136. Tokyo’s Nikkei fell 127 while the Shanghai Composite rose 27.
Looking at metals: Gold is $2 higher at US$1089.30 an ounce for the December contract on Comex. Silver added 1 cent to US$17.41 and copper lost 4 cents to US$2.96.
And the price of oil is 78 cents lower at US$79.62 a barrel for December light crude in New York.
