The local share market looks like it may be in for a flat start this morning following a mixed lead from Wall St overnight with the Dow Jones managing to close higher, the Nasdaq and S&P500 closing flat. A higher gold price may lift the gold miners today.
The local share market closed higher on Tuesday with the S&P/ASX 200 Index is up 59 points at 4,734. Looking at the futures market the SPI200’s up 21 points.
Checking currencies at 8:40 AM the Aussie Dollar is buying 93.04 US cents, 83.60 Yen, 62.12 Euro cents and 55.62 Pence Sterling. In economic news: The Westpac/Melbourne Institute survey of consumer sentiment for November is due out, as well as ABS lending finance data for September.
In company news: Shares in Conglomerate Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX:WES) gained 2.77 per cent to $27.43 yesterday. The company says metallurgical coal production capacity at its Curragh mine in Queensland’s Bowen Basin is to increase from 6.5 - 7 million tonnes per annum to up to 8.5 million tonnes. And in other news CEO Richard Goyder told shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting that he is concerned that rising interest rates, coupled with people working less hours, may impede that pace of the economic recovery in Australia. However he says he is optimistic about Australia’s future in the long-term and that Wesfarmers is well placed to be a part of this exciting future. Wesfarmers 2009 net profit of $1.535 billion was its best in five years.
High-end retailer David Jones Ltd (ASX:DJS) shares rose 1.76 per cent to $5.78 yesterday. David Jones has announced that stage one of its new flagship Bourke St CBD store will open on November 28. The company says 746 iconic brands will be available on a department store exclusive basis at the new store. CEO Mark McInnes says the timing of the opening of stage one of the new Bourke St store will cement its position as the leading Christmas gift giving retail destination in Melbourne. Mr McInnes says David Jones has tremendous growth opportunity in the Melbourne metropolitan market. David Jones profits have been increasing year on year for the past four years.
Checking ex-dividends: There is just one company going ex-dividend today, and that is Orica with a 57 cent 35.09 per cent franked dividend. Coming up tomorrow we have Village Roadshow and on Friday Bank of QLD and NAB are going ex-dividend.
Over to international markets: Wall Street closed mixed overnight - The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 20 points. The S&P500 Index is steady and the NASDAQ fell 3 points.
European markets were also mixed: London’s FTSE fell 5 points, Paris is steady and Frankfurt is down 7.
Asian markets were higher: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 61. Tokyo’s Nikkei rose 62 while the Shanghai Composite added 3.
Looking at metals: Gold is $1.10 higher at US$1102.50 an ounce for the December contract on Comex. Silver down 26 cents to US$17.23 and copper is one cent lower at US$2.96.
And the price of oil is $0.38 lower at US$79.05 a barrel for December light crude in New York.
