Following negative leads from the US, the ASX looks set for a quiet open in the last trading day before Christmas. Thursday trade on Wall St saw a drop off in consumer discretionary stocks, pushing markets lower, while the Dow failed to break through the 20,000 point level.
The ASX will close today at 2.10pm, with trade resuming mid next week.
US economic news A jump in the Q3 GDP read of 3.5 percent trumped market expectations of a 3.2 percent rise only. The latest data has the US economy on track for full year growth of approximately 2 percent. Data wasn’t so rosy elsewhere, with durable goods orders falling in November by 4.6 percent, driven mainly by a drop off in civilian aircraft orders. Initial jobless claims also spiked last week, coming in at 275,000, the highest since June.
MarketsWall Street closed lower on Thursday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.12 per cent to close at 19,919, the S&P 500 fell 0.19 per cent to close at 2,261 and the NASDAQ dropped 0.44 per cent to close at 5,447.
European markets closed mixed: London’s FTSE rose 0.32 per cent, Paris lifted 0.02 per cent and Frankfurt fell 0.11 per cent.
Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei dropped 0.09 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.8 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.07 per cent.
The Australian share market closed higher on Thursday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 30 points up to finish at 5,644. On the futures market the SPI is 10 points down.
CurrenciesThe Australian Dollar at 8:30AM was buying $US72.15 cents, 58.72 Pence Sterling, 84.81 Yen and 69.13 Euro cents.
Company NewsAuckland International Airport Limited
(ASX:AIA) has reported a 12.9 percent increase in international traffic for November, compared to the same time last year. The Americas, Asia and the Middle East regions saw the strongest growth, driven mainly by new seat capacity. Shares in Auckland International Airport Limited closed 1.63 percent higher on Thursday at $6.23
Commodities Gold has lost $1.00 to $US1,130 an ounce for the February contract on Comex.
Silver has dropped 4 cents to $15.83 for March.
Copper has gained $0.01 to $2.51 a pound for March.
Oil has lost $0.23 to $US52.72 a barrel for February light crude.
