The Australian share market may be in for a positive start, after gains on Wall St on Friday. US stocks rallied following news from the Committee of European Banking Supervisors that most of Europe’s big banks passed their stress tests, softening investor concerns about the global economic outlook.
On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 102 points higher at 10,425. The S&P 500 Index is up 9 points at 1,103 and the NASDAQ is up 24 points at 2,269.
European stocks were mixed; London’s FTSE down 1 point, Paris is up 6 and Frankfurt up 24.
Asian markets were higher: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng up 226 points on Friday, Tokyo’s Nikkei up 210 points and China’s Shanghai Composite up 10 points.
The Australian share market finished stronger on Friday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 84 points higher at 4,458 and on the futures market the SPI200 is up 40 points. Turning to currencies and the Aussie Dollar at 7:35AM was buying 89.55 US cents, 58.1 Pence Sterling, 78.42 Yen and 69.46 Euro cents.
In local economic news: The ABS is to release producer price indexes for June.
In business news: Shares in Ramelius Resources Ltd (ASX:RMS) were up 3.26% to $0.475 last Friday. Ramelius Resources has posted record production at its Wattle Dam mine in Western Australia, for the three months to 30 June. During the June quarter Ramelius acquired Harmony Gold’s Mt Magnet Project for $40 million in July, and says it is planning a $5 million expansion in 2010/11. The miner says it remains debt free with cash of $80.2 million and gold to the value of $14.1 million on hand at the end of the June quarter. Ramelius Resources reported a profit of $4.97 million for the 2009 financial year.
Shares in Super Cheap Auto Group Ltd (ASX:SUL) were down 1.1% to $5.41 at the end of last week. Super Cheap Auto Group has forecast net profit guidance of around $38 million for the 53 weeks to July 3, 2010. The automotive parts and accessories retailer says profit in the prior comparative period was $32.1 million. Super Cheap Auto will announce its full trading results on 25 August. Super Cheap Auto Group posted a profit of $32.14 million for the year to June 30, 2009.
To commodities, and the price of gold fell $7.80 to US$1,187.70 an ounce for the July contract on Comex. Silver is down $0.2 cents to US$18.10 and copper is up 2 cents at $3.18 a pound.
The price of oil is down $0.32 to US$78.98 a barrel for September light crude in New York.
