Australian shares are likely to open higher this morning following positive overseas leads, with Wall Street and European markets stabilising over the weekend after a horror week of losses.
US stocks ended stronger on Friday after a choppy session as investors swooped on battered shares including financial stocks.
Investor confidence has been boosted by the US Senate’s passing of a financial regulation bill and Germany’s approval of its contribution to the European bailout plan.
On the economic front, over half of all US states reported lower unemployment rates last month according to the Labor Department. A total of 34 states and the District of Columbia reported jobless rate declines in April. Unemployment rates rose in six states and 10 states reported no change.
To the figures, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 125 points higher at 10,193. The S&P500 Index rose16 points to 1,088 and the NASDAQ is up 25 points at 2,229.
European stocks closed slightly weaker on Friday. London’s FTSE is down 10 points, Paris lost 2 points and Frankfurt fell 39 points.
Asian markets finished mixed. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 33 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei lost 246 and China’s Shanghai Composite is up 28 points.
The Australian share market closed modestly lower on Friday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index lost 11 points at 4,305 and on the futures market the SPI200 is up 58 points. The Aussie Dollar at 8:40AM is buying 82.89 US cents, 57.31 Pence Sterling, 74.7 Yen and 66.12 Euro cents.
In local economic news: The Australian Bureau of Statistics is set to release sales of new motor vehicles for April.
To company news around this morning: Shares in WorleyParsons Ltd (ASX:WOR) closed 2.7% lower on Friday to $23.45. The professional services provider has been awarded $453 million worth of contracts. Saudi Arabian Mining has made an announcement to the Saudi Stock Exchange stating that it has selected WorleyParsons to perform work on its aluminium smelter joint venture. The contracts have been awarded to both WorleyParsons and US engineering firm Fluor Corporation. WorleyParsons posted a $390.5 million profit for the financial year to June 30 2009.
Shares in Telstra Ltd (ASX:TLS) closed 2.32% lower on Friday to $2.95. CEO David Thodey has defended the premiums the telco charges for services, saying they are justified considering the increasing competitiveness within the sector. Mr Thodey has told Sky News that competing only on price is not part of the company’s strategy. The telco hopes to benefit from Apple’s new computer tablet, the iPad, and outperform its competitors. Despite newspaper reports last week, Mr Thodey says the company has not reconfirmed its earnings forecast and has no comment on the matter. In the financial year to June 30 2009, Telstra reported a net profit of $4.073 billion.
To commodities, and the price of gold fell $12.10 to US$1,175.70 an ounce for the May contract on Comex. Silver is down 6 cents at US$17.63 and copper rose 12 cents to US$3.05.
And the price of oil fell $0.76 to US$70.04 a barrel for July light crude in New York.
