The local share market looks like it may be in for a weaker start this morning following falls on Wall St overnight, although the miners may get a boost from higher commodity and oil prices.
Focus today is likely to be on new PM Julia Gillard and any comments with regards to the proposed Resources Super Profits Tax.
US stocks closed deep in the red on Thursday as investors digested some mixed economic reports and one day after the Federal Reserve issued a cautious outlook for the economy.
On Wednesday the central bank kept rates on hold at levels near zero, and said that economic growth would be moderate.
On Thursday the Labor Department reported that the number of jobless claims fell to 457,000 last week from 472,000 the week before. The result was in line with economist forecasts.
A report from the Commerce Department showed a 1.1% fall in durable goods orders in May, an improvement on the 1.3% fall expected. Orders rose 3% in April.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished 146 points weaker at 10,153. The S&P 500 Index fell 18 points 1,074 and the NASDAQ lost 37 points at 2,217.
European stocks closed lower; London’s FTSE lost 78 points, Paris is down 86 and Frankfurt dropped 89.
Asian markets were mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is down 123, Tokyo’s Nikkei rose 5 and China’s Shanghai Composite lost 3 points.
The Australian share market closed marginally lower yesterday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index down 6 points at 4,480 and on the futures market the SPI200’s down 59 points. Turning to currencies and the Aussie Dollar at 7:50AM was buying 86.64 US cents, 58.08 Pence Sterling, 77.59 Yen and 70.3 Euro cents.
In business news: Shares in Caltex Australia Ltd (ASX:CTX) fell 4.52% to $10.35 on Thursday. The fuel refiner and marketer says net profit for the first six months of calendar 2010 is expected to be between $140 million and $160 million, premised on an exchange rate of 84 to 87 US cents. This compares to $298 million recorded for the first half of calendar 2009 on a replacement cost of sales operating profit. Caltex says the higher Australian dollar during the period compared with the same period in 2009 negatively impacted the Caltex refiner margin. In addition, the company says, the recent fall in the Aussie dollar negatively impacted replacement cost of sales operating profit, net profit after tax due to a realised loss on US dollar payables. For calendar 2009, Caltex Australia reported profit of $314 million.
Shares in Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT) lost 1.32% to $0.75 yesterday. The company has secured the right to explore the Great Rift in western Tanzania for oil. Beach says its wholly owned subsidiary, Beach Petroleum, has been awarded a production sharing agreement for a 100% interest in the Lake Tanganyika South concession with the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania. The company says Tanzanian production sharing agreements are structured into three exploration phases totalling 11 years. Beach says the concession is highly prospective for oil. Beach Energy booked a $260.4 million profit in fiscal 2009.
There is just one company going ex-dividends today and that is Aneka Tambang with a 1.37 cent unfranked dividend.
To commodities, and the price of gold rose $11.40 to US$1,245.50 an ounce for the June contract on Comex. Silver is up 28 cents at US$18.73 and copper is up 7 cents at $3 a pound.
And the price of oil added $0.16 to US$76.51 a barrel for August light crude in New York.
