The Australian share market has received mixed leads from overseas, with Wall Street indices flat to mixed and also a mixed result in commodities.
US stocks seesawed after a number of key economic reports suggested that the US economy is slowly regaining strength.
The Labor Department said the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment fell to 457,000 from 462,000 the previous week.
Continuing claims, which measures people receiving benefits for at least a week, rose to 4,579,000, up slightly on the previous week.
CPI was unchanged in February after rising 0.2% the month before. But core CPI, which removes volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.1% in February after falling 0.1% in January.
The Conference Board’s index of leading economic indicators rose 0.1% in February, after rising 0.3% in January.
And the Philadelphia Fed index rose to 18.9 in March from 17.6 in February.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher, up 46 points to 10,779. The S&P500 Index is steady points to 1,166 and the NASDAQ added 2 points to 2,391.
European stock markets fell overnight. London’s FTSE dipped 2 points, Paris fell 20 points and Frankfurt lost 12 points.
Asian stocks are lower, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is down 54 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei fell 103 points and China’s Shanghai Composite slipped 4 points.
The Australian share market closed marginally higher on Thursday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index finished 10 points higher to 4,863 and on the futures market the SPI200 is up 8 points. On to currencies: the Aussie Dollar at 8:45AM was buying 91.98 US cents, 60.35 Pence Sterling, 83.18 Yen and 67.64 Euro cents.
In local economic news, the Melbourne Institute releases its bulletin of economic trends.
To company news around this morning: Shares in BHP Billiton (ASX:BHP) closed slightly lower yesterday, losing 0.32% to $43.16. Outgoing BHP chairman Don Argus has warned government on the dangers of tax reform for the resources sector. As debate over the release date of the Henry Tax Review continues, Mr Argus said that tax changes should not hinder investment and the capacity of economies to grow. It’s been widely speculated that the Henry review recommends scrapping state royalties on mining projects and replacing them with a 40 per cent resources rent tax. Mr Argus said policies which reduce cash flow from profits generated after paying tax could affect a company’s capacity to pay future dividend to its shareholders. Looking at BHP Billiton, the miner’s 2009 net profit was $7.6 billion.
Shares in the Seven Network (ASX:SEV) lost ground yesterday, falling 2.63% to $7.76. Seven’s executive chairman Kerry Stokes has defended a commitment given to US equipment maker Caterpillar, insisting that he will continue to own a large slice of a merged WesTrac and Seven. Documents for the proposed $2 billion takeover of WesTrac by Seven show WestTrac does not have contracts with Caterpillar and that a change in certain management positions would give Caterpillar the right to terminate its agreements with the company. The Australian Financial Review reports that Mr Stokes said his personal commitment to Caterpillar is unchanged and that agreements on management changes are not unusual. The Seven Network posted about a $12.5 million net profit in 2009.
There are four companies going ex-dividend today and they are APN Property 1.25 cent fully franked, Brisbane Broncos 0.5 a cent fully franked, Embelton 11 cent fully franked and Myer 10.5 cent fully franked.
To commodities: Gold is up $3.40 at US$1,127.40 an ounce for the April contract on Comex. For the May contract silver fell 9.5 cents to US$17.41 and copper is down 2 cents at US$3.39.
And oil lost ground, with the price slipping 73 cents to US$82.20 a barrel for April light crude in New York.
