The Australian share market has received mixed leads from offshore overnight. Wall Street see-sawed for most of the session to finish modestly higher. No major US economic news was released.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 10 points to close at 10,416. The S&P 500 Index edged up 2 points 1,094 and the NASDAQ rose 6 points at 2,216.
European stocks were lower; London’s FTSE fell 48 points, Paris slipped 15 and Frankfurt lost 20 points.
Asian markets were mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng plunged 115 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei rose 79 points and China’s Shanghai Composite lost 6 points.
The Australian share market finished relatively flat on Wednesday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index lost 2 points to close 4,475 and on the futures market the SPI200 is down 9 points. The Aussie Dollar is weaker against all of the major currencies at 7:30AM and was buying 89.88 US cents, 57.59 Pence Sterling, 76.78 Yen and 69.9 Euro cents.
Locally in economic news: ABS average weekly earnings for May and international merchandise imports for July.
In business news: Shares in BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) fell 4.43 per cent to close at $38.42 on Wednesday. BHP is in the headlines this morning amid reports that it may increase its $44 billion hostile offer for Canada’s Potash Corporation, which has already been rejected by that company’s board. BHP chief executive Marius Kloppers has refused to rule out the pursuit saying yesterday that potash mining remains a good long-term investment with significant growth potential. If BHP does up its bid and is successful – the acquisition would reportedly give the miner about 20 per cent of the world’s market in fertiliser. It’s understood that BHP has already arranged a new debt facility to fund the acquisition. BHP Billiton reported a net profit after tax of around $7.2 billion in 2009.
Shares in Leighton Holdings Ltd (ASX:LEI) closed slightly lower, slipping 0.44 per cent to $31.56 on Wednesday. Directors of the construction giant are reportedly close to finalising a replacement for chief executive officer Wal King, who has been at the helm for 22 years. According to Business Spectator a replacement decision is unanimous among Leighton’s non-executive directors and with an announcement tipped to happen weeks before the company’s November AGM. Speculation of a replacement to Mr King has been rife for some time and yesterday Leighton said succession plans have been the subject of detailed discussions over the past two years. Leighton Holdings Ltd net profit after tax was $440 million in 2009, which is about 200 million less than in 2008.
Going ex-dividend today: Choiseul Investments 10.5 cent fully franked and Integrated Research 1 cent 45 per cent franked.
To commodities, and the price of gold is up $3.10 to US$1,229 an ounce for the August contract on Comex. Silver dropped 20 cents to US$18.39 and copper is up 1 cent at $3.35 a pound.
And the price of oil fell 35 cents to US$75.42 a barrel for September light crude in New York.
