The Australian share market may be in for a flat start, after Wall St closed steady overnight. As US investors digested weaker than expected manufacturing data, the Dow and S&P 500 ended barely changed.
In US economic news: The National Association of Home Builders reported that builder confidence fell for the third consecutive month in August, with the monthly index of builder’s sentiment about the housing market dropping to a read of 13, the lowest level since March 2009.
On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 1 point lower at 10,302. The S&P 500 Index is flat at 1,079 and the NASDAQ is up 8 points at 2,182.
European stocks were mixed; London’s FTSE was steady, Paris was down 13 and Frankfurt also flat.
Asian markets were mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng up 41 points on Monday, Tokyo’s Nikkei down 57 points and China’s Shanghai Composite up 55 points.
The Australian share market finished weaker on Monday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 21 points lower at 4,439 and on the futures market the SPI200 is down 5 points. Turning to currencies and the Aussie Dollar at 7:45AM was buying 89.79 US cents, 57.35 Pence Sterling, 76.65 Yen and 70.03 Euro cents.
In business news: Shares in Woodside Petroleum Ltd (ASX:WPL) closed 3.83% up at $43.10 on Monday. Woodside Petroleum has announced a significant gas discovery in its Alaric-1 well off Western Australia. The company says Alaric-1 has intersected 185 meters of gross gas over several zones, with initial analysis suggesting the gas could be comparatively liquids rich. Woodside advises that Alaric-1 is currently being deepened to ensure the full gas column is penetrated. Woodside Petroleum reported a profit of $1.8 billion for the year to 30 December 2009.
Shares in Funtastic Ltd (ASX:FUN) closed 4.55% down at $0.21 on Monday. Toy wholesaler Funtastic has recovered from a $30 million loss in the first half of 2009, to report an unaudited interim net profit before tax of $400,000 for the first half of 2010. The company says it has had a return to profitability in the six month to 30 June, with earnings before interest, tax and amortisation coming in at $3.4 million, compared with a $7.3 million loss for the same time last year. While the company posted an 8% drop in revenue to $108.9 million for the first half of year, Funtastic says the turnaround continues to progress and the company is confident of further improvements in financial performance. Funtastic reported a loss of $58 million for the year to 30 December 2009.
To ex-dividends: Three companies are going ex-dividend today, Coca-Cola Amatil with a 20.5 cent fully franked dividend, Computershare with a 14 cent 60% franked dividend, and JB Hi-Fi with a 33 cent fully franked dividend.
To commodities, and the price of gold is up $9.60 to US$1224 an ounce for the August contract on Comex. Silver is up $0.32 cents to US$18.42 and copper is up $0.03 at $3.28 a pound.
The price of oil is down $0.15 to US$75.24 a barrel for September light crude in New York.
