The Australian share market is expected to open stronger this morning following a positive finish on Wall Street on Friday and gold prices settling on a record high.
US stocks ended a choppy session higher as the market managed to carve out a second straight week of gains.
But the US market is lacking some direction amid a loss of corporate or economic news.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished 16 points stronger at 10,451. The S&P 500 Index inched up 1 point at 1,118 and the NASDAQ edged 3 points higher to close at 2,310.
European stocks were mixed; London’s FTSE is down 3 points, Paris gained 4 and Frankfurt lost 7 points.
Asian markets were also mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is up 148, Tokyo’s Nikkei slipped 4 points and China’s Shanghai Composite lost 47 points.
The Australian share market finished higher on Friday with the S&P/ASX 200 Index up 25 points at 4,552 and on the futures market the SPI200’s up 6 points. Turning to currencies and the Aussie Dollar at 7:50AM was buying 88.17 US cents, 59.31 Pence Sterling, 79.69 Yen and 70.9 Euro cents.
In local economic news: The Australian Bureau of Statistics publishes international merchandise imports and motor vehicles sales data for May, and the Institute of Chartered Accountants Tax Reform Conference starts today, featuring an address by Treasury Secretary Ken Henry.
In company news: Shares in Sundance Resources Ltd (ASX:SDL) closed 4% higher on Friday at $0.13. Six Australian board members of the Perth-based mining firm are missing, feared dead, after a plane carrying nine people disappeared soon after taking off in Cameroon, west Africa, on Saturday. A multi-national air and ground search is underway amid fears the light plane may have crashed in thick forest after it failed to reach its destination of Yangadou in the Republic of Congo. Sundance has named those on board the aircraft including Chairman Geoff Wedlock, Managing Director and CEO Don Lewis and non-executive director, mining magnate Ken Talbot. They were on their way to visit the company’s iron ore project in Cameroon and Congo and meet with government representatives of both countries. Sundance Resources posted a net loss of $13.66 million for fiscal 2009.
Shares in Telstra Ltd (ASX:TLS) finished 2.22% higher at $3.23 on Friday. The federal government has struck an $11 billion deal with the telco that clears the way for its planned National Broadband Network. The agreement will allow the state-owned NBN Co., which is building the network to provide high-speed Internet, to have access to Telstra’s infrastructure. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has hailed the outcome as a major achievement that paves the way for a faster, cheaper and more efficient rollout of the network. But Telstra chairwoman Catherine Livingstone says it is only a significant milestone that is subject to further talks before being put to a shareholder vote next year. Telstra posted a $4.07 billion profit for the 2009 financial year.
Checking ex-dividends, going today is Fisher & Paykel Healthcare with a 5.77 cent unfranked dividend. Among those going on Thursday are Challenger Diversified Property and Cape Lambert Resources.
To commodities, and the price of gold jumped $9.70 to US$1,257.20 an ounce for the June contract on Comex. Silver is up 41 cents at US$19.18 and copper is down 2 cents at $2.88.
And the price of oil rose 39 cents to US$77.18 a barrel for July light crude in New York.
