The local share market may open higher this morning after Wall St advanced overnight. Investor optimism got a boost after Fed officials said it was likely that interest rates would remain low for the foreseeable future.
The local share market closed higher on Wednesday with the S&P/ASX 200 Index is up 23 points at 4,757. Looking at the futures market the SPI200’s up 20 points.
Checking currencies at 8:40 AM the Aussie Dollar is buying 93.06 US cents, 83.62 Yen, 62.12 Euro cents and 56.15 Pence Sterling. In economic news: The ABS releases labour force data for October today, and the Melbourne Institute survey of consumer inflationary expectations for November is also out.
In company news: Shares in provider of professional services to the resource and energy sectors WorleyParsons Ltd (ASX:WOR) fell 0.04 per cent to $27.57 yesterday. The company has made a takeover offer for high-end business services provider Evans & Peck. WorleyParsons is offering to acquire all the issued share capital in Evans & Peck in a deal worth $87.1 million, paid as a combination of cash and WorleyParsons shares. The acquisition price is six times Evans & Pecks earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization for the year to June 30 2009. WorleyParsons CEO John Grill says the capabilities of Evans & Peck will provide a strategic step-up in the company’s ability to support major infrastructure projects. WorleyParsons 2009 net profit was its best in five years.
Wood chipper Gunns Ltd (ASX:GNS) shares closed steady at $1.04 yesterday. Chairman John Gay told shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting that recent improvement in financial markets have provided an opportunity to progress to the final stage of the Bell Bay Pulp Mill project. Mr Gay says the company is in talks with a number of parties regarding equity investment in the project, saying that Swedish forest products co-operative Sodra is one of these parties. New CEO Greg L’Estrange says that while export markets are difficult due to global economic conditions and currency factors, Gunns domestic market presence has increased significantly. Gunns 2009 net profit remained relatively unchanged from the year before.
Checking ex-dividends: There is just one company going ex-dividend today and that is Village Roadshow with a six cent fully franked dividend. Coming up tomorrow we have Bank of Queensland and NAB.
Over to international markets: Wall Street closed higher overnight - The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 44 points. The S&P500 Index added 6 and the NASDAQ gained 16 points.
European markets were also stronger: London’s FTSE gained 36 points, Paris is 29 points higher and Frankfurt is up 55.
Asian markets were mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 359. Tokyo’s Nikkei rose almost a point while the Shanghai Composite declined 3.
Looking at metals: Gold is $12 higher at US$1114.50 an ounce for the December contract on Comex. Silver up 32 cents to US$17.55 and copper is one cent stronger at US$2.97.
And the price of oil is $0.23 higher at US$79.28 a barrel for December light crude in New York.
