The Australian share market has received a positive lead from Wall St overnight and is likely to follow suit and open higher this morning. All eyes will be in the RBA and its decision on interest rates to be announced at 2:30pm Sydney time.
US stocks closed the session stronger on Monday as investors welcomed news of a bailout for Greece, and a number of better than expected economic reports and sales figures for automakers added to the rise.
European leaders and the International Monetary Fund announced over the weekend that they would provide Greece with $146 billion in aid over three years to help bail out the troubled economy.
Ford Motor reported a 25% rise in sales for April, Toyota Motor posting a 24% rise, with General Motors also recording a rise in sales, up 6% for the month.
In economic news out of the US, the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index rose a read of 60.4 in April, up from 59.6 in March.
A Government report showed that construction spending increased 0.2%, and a report released by the Commerce Department showed a 0.3% rise in personal income for March in line with economist expectations.
To the figures now, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 143 points higher at 11,152. The S&P500 Index rose 16 points at 1,202 and the NASDAQ is 38 points stronger at 2,499.
To European stock markets, and London’s FTSE was closed, Paris was up 11 points and Frankfurt gained 31 points.
Looking at Asian stocks on Monday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is down 297 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei and China’s Shanghai Composite were both closed.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 22 points lower to 4,786 and on the futures market the SPI200 is up 20 points. On to currencies: the Aussie Dollar at 9:10AM was buying 92.67US cents, 60.80 Pence Sterling, 87.7 Yen and 70.23 Euro cents.
In local economic news, a decision on interest rates is to be announced at 2:30pm Sydney time following the RBA’s monetary policy meeting with the central bank tipped to raise rates again. Also out today, the Commonwealth Bank/Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry business expectations survey for the March quarter.
To company news around this morning: Shares in project development and contracting company Leighton Holdings Ltd (ASX:LEI) fell 1.33% to $36.41 yesterday. The company’s subsidiary John Holland says it is part of an alliance selected to deliver the $650 million South Morang Rail Extension Project. The alliance is between John Holland, AECOM, the Department of transport, MTM, and VicRoads. Planning and design works will begin immediately and construction is scheduled to commence in the second half of 2010. John Holland’s stake is expected to be in excess of $300 million. Leighton Holdings reported a $440 million profit for the 2009 financial year.
Shares in budget airline Virgin Blue Holdings (ASX:VBA) dropped 7.56% to $0.55 on Monday. The company has downgraded its earnings forecast now expecting profit to come in at the lower end of its previous guidance of between $80 and $110 million. Virgin Blue says the downgrade is in response to weaker than expected bookings through to the year end, and an increase in volatility. The downward revision comes as the airline announces it will seek regulatory approval to form an alliance with Air New Zealand for travel across the trans-Tasman. The company reported a 1.5% increases in domestic passenger numbers and 20% jump in international passengers for the month of March, however, for the year to date domestic traffic decreased 4.3%, while international numbers rose 34.4%. Virgin Blue booked a $160 million loss for the 12 months to June 30, 2009.
Taking a look at ex-dividend’s, and while there are no companies going ex-dividend today, coming up we have GPT Group tomorrow, ANZ on Thursday and Australian Pharmaceutical Industries on Friday.
To commodities: The price of gold rose $2.60 to US$1,182.70 an ounce for the May contract on Comex. Silver rose 20 cents to US$18.81 and copper is 5 cents lower at US$3.28.
And finally the price of oil gained $0.04 to US$86.19 a barrel for June light crude in New York.
