The Australian share market is expected to open lower on Thursday, after Wall Street extended losses from the day before, due to more signs of a deepening debt crisis in Europe.
Moody's said it was considering a downgrade of Portugal's debt, while three people were reported dead due to riots in Greece as tensions there escalate.
The latest US economic news signalled an improvement in jobs. ADP said private-sector employers increased payrolls by 32,000 jobs in April – the third consecutive month of gains. And outplacement firm Challenger said employers cut 43% less jobs last month with 38,326 jobs lost in April.
To the numbers – the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 60 points lower at 10,867. The S&P500 Index lost 8 points to 1,166 and the NASDAQ is 22 points weaker at 2,402.
European stock markets fell – London’s FTSE down 69, Paris lost 53 points and Frankfurt declined 48 points.
To our region now and Asian stocks were mixed – Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is down 436 points, Tokyo remains closed for a public holiday and China’s Shanghai Composite is up 22 points.
The Australian share market lost further ground yesterday – the S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 63 points lower to 4,674 and on the futures market the SPI200 is down 54 points. On to currencies: the Aussie Dollar at 8.35AM was buying 90.67 US cents, 60.06 Pence Sterling, 85.1 Yen and 70.77 Euro cents.
In local economic news, the Bureau of Statistics releases its balance of goods and services data for March and retail sales figures also for March.
To company news around this morning: National Australia Bank (ASX:NAB) shares closed 3.36% lower yesterday to $26.78. National Australia Bank has posted a 21.4% drop in its first-half net profit. Net profit fell to just over $2 billion for the six months to March 31 from $2.664 billion in the previous corresponding period. Still, net profit recovered from the loss of $75 million in the second half of last fiscal year. Cash earnings gained 8.2% to just over $2 billion on a robust performance from the business bank, the wealth division and improvements in the bank's bad and doubtful debt charge. National Australia Bank’s 2009 net profit was nearly $2.6 billion, nearly half of the result the year before.
Seek (ASX:SEK) shares closed 4.19% lower yesterday to $8. The online job ads company is counting on consistent growth in its Australian division and the first profit from its Chinese business to lift earnings this year. Joint chief executive Andres Bassar says that Seek is seeing gradual but consistent monthly growth in job ads in Australia. He’s told the Australian Financial Review that while the results aren’t a sharp rebound they do represent a steady improvement in employment. Seek’s net profit rose 12.6% to $36 million during the six months to December 31 of 2009. Meanwhile’s Seek new job index has been released showing showed the labour market had undergone 11 consecutive months of growth since June 2009. Seek posted a $55 million net profit in 2009.
ANZ Banking Group is the only company going ex-dividend with a 52 cent fully franked dividend.
Commodities closed mostly weaker however the price of gold gained $6 to US$1,174.60 an ounce for the May contract on Comex. Silver is down 31 cents at US$17.51 and copper is 3 cents lower at US$3.14.
And finally the price of oil lost $2.77 to US$79.97 a barrel for June light crude in New York.
