The Australian dollar opened almost a cent lower after the US dollar strengthened on the back of strong US fourth quarter growth figures.
And the US economy soars with a 5.7 per cent growth pace in the fourth quarter, led by brisk business spending that offset sluggish consumer activity.
Checking the figures, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 53 points to 10,067. The S&P500 Index lost 11 points to 1,074 and the NASDAQ is 32 points lower at 2,147.
To other international markets, Europe closed higher. London’s FTSE gained 43 points Paris gained 51, and Frankfurt is up 68 points.
Asian markets closed lower on Friday with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng falling 234 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei fell 216 and China’s Shanghai Composite fell 5 points.
The Australian share market closed lower on Friday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index finished 104 points lower at 4,570 and on the futures market the SPI200’s down 47 points.
On to currencies: the Aussie Dollar at 8:50AM was buying 88.03 US cents, 79.08 Yen, 63.5 Euro cents and 55.22 Pence Sterling.
To what’s ahead in economic news today, the Adelaide-Argo Investments first half results will be released by Advance Energy AGM today.
In company news about this morning: On Friday, Eastern Star Gas traded 4.91% lower at 78 cents.Eastern Star Gas Limited (ASX:ESG) expects gas production rates to increase significantly after a tri-lateral pilot was temporarily suspended in January. The suspension was due to access road restrictions preventing mechanical adjustments to handle rapidly climbing gas production. Eastern Star Gas reported a loss of $2.52 million for fiscal 2009.
Macarthur Coal traded 7.89% lower on Friday to close at $9.45. Macarthur Coal Limited (ASX:MCC) has updated the market bid for Gloucester Coal Limited and other conditional acquisitions of assets from Noble Group. The company says it expects to hold a shareholder meeting in relation to transaction in mid April 2010. Macarthur also announced its intention to acquire 100% of Gloucester via an off-market takeover by an all-scrip offer with cash alternative. Macarthur also entered into a conditional binding term sheet to acquire Noble’s interest in the Middlemount joint venture, taking Macarthur’s ownership to 100% including all marketing rights for product. Macarthur Coal reported a profit of $168.56 million for fiscal 2009.
Taking a look at ex-dividends: Alcoa is going ex-dividend today paying a 2.88 cent unfranked dividend.
To commodities: Gold fell 60 cents to US$1,083.20 an ounce for the April contract on Comex. For the March contract silver gained 6 cents to US$16.27 and copper is down 5 cents at US$3.05.
The price of oil slipped $1 to US$72.89 a barrel for March light crude in New York.
