The Australian share market may open lower today, following Wall St’s fourth consecutive day of declines, amid the Federal Reserve’s statement casting concern over the strength of economic recovery.
In US economic news: The Labor Department’s consumer price index: came in above economists expectations, halting three consecutive months of declines. Commerce Department: reported that retail sales increased 0.4% in July, narrowly missing expectations. The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index: increased to 69.6 for early August, up from 67.8 in July, again just missing economists expectations.
On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 17 points lower at 10,303. The S&P 500 Index is down 4 points to 1,079 and the NASDAQ is down 17 points to 2,173.
European stocks were mixed; London’s FTSE up 9 points, Paris is down 10 and Frankfurt down 25.
Asian markets were also mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng down 34 points on Friday, Tokyo’s Nikkei up 41 points and China’s Shanghai Composite up 31 points.
The Australian share market finished higher on Friday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 59 higher to 4,460 and on the futures market the SPI200 is down 50 points. Turning to currencies and the Aussie Dollar at 7:45AM was buying 89.29 US cents, 57.33 Pence Sterling, 77 Yen and 69.98 Euro cents.
In local economic news: The ABS is due to release data on the sales of new motor vehicles for July.
In business news: Shares in Qantas Airways Ltd (ASX:QAN) were up 1.61% to $2.52 last Friday. According to The Age, Qantas may join two freight ventures it has with Australia Post as 50-50 equity partners in Star Track Express and AAE. The Age says a merger would enable Qantas to cut costs, after Star Track Express has failed to perform to its initial performance expectations. Last week Qantas reported an increase in its full year underlying profit before tax, of $377 million for the 12 months to June 30, significantly above the $100 million in underlying profit before tax recorded in 2009. Qantas recorded a net profit after tax of $117 million for the year ended 30 June 2009. Shares in Leighton Holdings Ltd (ASX:LEI) were down 0.03% to $28.90 at the end of last week. According to the Australian, Leighton Holdings believes it can achieve a $1 billion net profit after tax within five years. Ahead of the company’s full year results due today, the paper reports CEO Wal King, says it has been a stunning finish to the year for Leighton, despite some ongoing issues stemming from the Global Financial Crisis. Last week a wholly owned subsidiary of Leighton Holdings, Leighton Contractors, in consortium with Vestas was awarded a $1 billion contract by the AGL and Meridian Joint Venture, for the Macarthur Wind Farm development in the Western districts of Victoria. Leighton Holdings posted a profit of over $440 million for the year to June 30 2009.
To ex-dividends, there are five companies going ex-dividend today: AXA Asia Pacific with a 9.25 cent 10% franked dividend, Bradken with 21 cent fully franked dividend, Commonwealth Bank with a $1.70 fully franked dividend, Canada Land with a .6 cent un-franked dividend and itX Group with a 4.25 cent fully franked dividend.
To commodities: and the price of gold is up $0.10 to US$1214 an ounce for the August contract on Comex. Silver is up $0.04 cents to US$18.10 and copper is down $0.03 at $3.25 a pound.
The price of oil is down $0.35 to US$75.39 a barrel for September light crude in New York.
