Returning from the Christmas holiday the Australian share market looks like it may open slightly higher this morning following a positive lead from Wall St overnight with stronger metals and oil prices likely to boost resource stocks.
US stocks closed slightly higher overnight in what is expected to be a week of light trade with many investors expected to take all or part of the week off.
Sales at US retailers appear to have improved in the holiday shopping period, a report from the National Retail Federation suggests that sales fell 1% between November and December, an improvement on the 3.4% drop last year.
However according to data released by SpendingPulse US retail sales rose 3.6% between November 1 and Christmas Eve.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 27 points to 10,547. The S&P500 Index is up 1 to 1,128 and the NASDAQ closed 5 points stronger at 2,291.
European markets were higher. London’s FTSE is closed, Paris added 34 points and Frankfurt rose 45.
Asian markets were mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 37 points. Tokyo’s Nikkei is up 140 and China’s Shanghai Composite rose 47 points.
Back to the local market now and Australian stocks ended higher on Thursday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index finished 52 points higher at 4,791. Looking at the futures market the SPI200’s up 16.
Looking at currencies; the Aussie Dollar at 9.10AM is buying 88.7 US cents, 81.3 Yen, 61.69 Euro cents and 55.44 Pence Sterling.
In company news about this morning: Shares in Macquarie Group (ASX:MQG) rose 1.18 per cent to $48 last Thursday before the Christmas holiday. A report in the Sydney Morning Herald says that Macquarie Group is one of three final bidders for the $4.52 billion Sempra energy trading business. The paper says the British Press has named Macquarie Group along with JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank as bidders for the RBS Sempra Commodities business. According to the report the Royal Bank of Scotland has been told to sell the asset by the European Commission after receiving state aid from the British Government, the company is 83% owned by the British taxpayer. RBS Sempra Commodities is a joint venture between RBS and Sempra Energy. Macquarie Group recorded net profit after tax for the year to March 30, 2009 of $871 million.
Shares in Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory Company Holdings Ltd (ASX:WCB) surged 23.63% per cent to $3.40 last Thursday. The company has rejected a takeover proposal from a third party saying that the indicative proposal does not incorporate appropriate value to reflect the strong prospects of the company and it could not be recommended to shareholders. Warrnambool says since its rejection of the original offer it has received a revised proposal from the same party in addition another proposal was received from a new third party. The company says the offer prices under the new proposals are at or slightly below $4 cash per Warrnambool share. However the company has again rejected both of these offers saying they are opportunistic and do not reflect Warrnambool’s medium and long term prospects, current and future initiatives and strategic position in the Australian dairy industry. Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory posted a loss for the financial year ending June 30, 2009.
Taking a look at companies going ex dividend today: There is just one company going today and that is Vanguard All-World ex-US Shares Index amount to be advised. Coming up on Thursday we have Programmed Maintenance and next week Tower Australia and Tutt Bryant are going ex-dividend.
Looking at metals: Gold gained $3.10 to US$1,107.90 an ounce for the February contract on Comex. For the March contract Silver improved 12 cents to US$17.56 and copper is up 4 cents at US$3.34.
And the price of oil is $0.95 higher at US$79 a barrel for February light crude in New York.
