The Australian share market has received a mixed lead from Wall St overnight and is likely to open flat this morning. Stronger oil and metals prices may give mining and energy stocks a boost today.
US stocks closed mixed overnight ahead of the start of the quarterly reporting period, the Dow Jones and S&P500 finished the session higher on the back of gains in industrials stocks following some positive economic data from China.
China reported record imports of some commodities and stronger than expected exports causing stocks with international operations, like construction machinery maker Caterpillar, to rise.
However declines in technology shares dragged the Nasdaq down.
To the figures, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 46 points to 10,664. The S&P500 Index added 2 at 1,147 and the NASDAQ lost 5 points at 2,312.
To other markets - European markets were also mixed. London’s FTSE added 4 points and Paris declined 2 points, and Frankfurt advanced 3 points.
Asian markets were stronger: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 115 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei added a point and China’s Shanghai Composite increased 17 points.
Back to the local market and Australian stocks closed higher on Monday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index finished 39 points higher at 4,951 and on the futures market the SPI200’s up 5.
Looking at currencies; the Aussie Dollar at 8:45AM is buying 93.04 US cents, 85.71Yen, 64.13 Euro cents and 57.75 Pence Sterling.
In economic news out today: ABS housing finance data for November is to be released today.
In company news about this morning: Shares in software developer Powerlan Ltd (ASX:PWR) closed flat at 10.5 cents yesterday. The company has rejected an offer by Singapore based AsiaInfo International Singapore to acquire a controlling stake in the company. AsiaInfo proposed to acquire 53 million new shares in Powerlan for around 10 cents a share giving the company around $5.3 million and AsiaInfo just over a 50% stake in Powerlan when combined with its existing shares held. However Powerlan has rejected the offer saying that it is inadequate and provides no firm details on how the company’s debt to CPS Group Investments is to be repaid in the event that CPS demands repayment of its loan upon a 50.001% stake being acquired. Powerlan says AsiaInfo has also not provided the company with any details as to its financial worth. Powerlan posted a loss for the 2009 financial year.
Programmed Maintenance Services Ltd (ASX:PRG) shares closed flat at $3.81 yesterday. The company has declared its offer of 47 cents for each share in KLM Group, last and final. This means that the company will not increase its offer price above 47 cents a share, and will also not extend the offer period beyond the closing date of Wednesday January 20. Programmed Maintenance Services posted a profit of $28.07 million for the 12 months to March 30, 2009.
Looking at companies going ex dividend: There is just one company going ex-dividend today and that is Merchant House International with a 0.5 cent unfranked dividend.
To metals: Gold rose $12.50 to US$1,151.40 an ounce for the February contract on Comex. For the March contract Silver rose 23 cents to US$18.70 and copper is up 4 cents at US$3.44.
And the price of oil is up $0.23 to US$82.52 a barrel for February light crude in New York.
