The Australian share market is likely to open lower this morning after receiving negative leads from overseas, with Wall Street indices, metals and oil all closing weaker.
The Dow Jones broke its winning streak on Friday after closing higher for eight consecutive sessions prior.
US stocks slipped as a strong dollar dragged on commodity prices and investors fretted about the global economic recovery after the Reserve Bank of India surprisingly raised interest rates.
The financial crisis gripping Greece continued to weigh on European stocks on Friday, with most exchanges ending in negative territory.
That brings us to the figures and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 37 points to 10,742. The S&P500 Index closed 6 points lower at 1,160 and the NASDAQ lost 17 points at 2,374.
European stock markets closed mixed. London’s FTSE gained 8 points, Paris fell 13 points and Frankfurt lost 30 points.
Asian stocks are higher, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is up 40 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei gained 81 points and China’s Shanghai Composite rose 22 points.
The Australian share market closed broadly flat on Friday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index finished 9 points higher at 4,872 and on the futures market the SPI200 was down19 points. On to currencies: the Aussie Dollar at 8:40AM was buying 91.48 US cents, 61.04 Pence Sterling, 82.84 Yen and 67.65 Euro cents.
In local economic news, the ABS is set to release data on sales of new motor vehicles for February.
To company news around this morning: Shares in Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) closed lower on Friday, losing 1.04% to $76.19. After eight months in detention, Stern Hu and three of his colleagues face the start of a three-day trial in Shanghai today on charges of receiving bribes and stealing business secrets. But when the four men arrive at the Shanghai court, they are unlikely to be seen by media or Australian consular officials, as they have been denied access to the hearing. Chinese lawyers believe it will be difficult for Mr Hu and his colleagues to receive an impartial trial under China’s non-independent legal system. The courts are subjugated to the ruling Communist Party and decisions about high-level cases are decided within the party rather than by the judges. Rio Tinto’s 2009 net profit was $5.432 billion.
Shares in Arrow Energy Ltd (ASX:AOE) remain in a trading halt. Shares last traded at $5.29. The gas explorer is widely expected to announce an agreed $3.44 billion-plus sale to Royal Dutch Shell and PetroChina today. The Australian Financial Review reports that Arrow has accepted an increased offer from the energy giants of $4.70 cash plus a share in Arrow’s early-stage Asian exploration assets. The offer will be presented to shareholders as a scheme of arrangement and they will receive one share in the international assets for every Arrow share they own. It is understood Arrow’s biggest shareholder, New Hope Coal, has indicated it will accept the new offer. Shell and PetroChina had originally approached Arrow with an offer of $4.45 a share. Arrow Energy posted a $366.85 million net profit for fiscal 2009.
There are a number of companies going ex-dividend today, including AP Eagers with a 40 cent fully franked dividend, Newcrest Mining with a five cent unfranked dividend and PPK Group with a fully franked 1.5 cent dividend. Also going today are Spotless Group, Tranzact Financial Services and Woolworths. Going tomorrow, we have Adtrans Group, followed by Peet and Prime Media Group on Wednesday and Ausenco on Thursday.
To commodities: Gold is down $20 at US$1,107.40 an ounce for the April contract on Comex. For the May contract silver fell 39 cents to US$17.02 and copper is down 2 cents at US$3.36.
And oil lost ground, with the price slipping $1.52 to US$80.68 a barrel for April light crude in New York.
