The Australian share market may open lower today, following Wall St closing lower on Monday. US stocks slid in one of the lightest volume sessions of the year as global economic concerns continue to weigh on investors.
On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 39 points lower at 10,174. The S&P 500 Index is down 4 points to 1,067 and the NASDAQ is down 20 points at 2,160.
European stocks were higher; London’s FTSE up 40 points, Paris is up 27 and Frankfurt up 6.
Asian markets were lower: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng down 93 points on Monday, Tokyo’s Nikkei down 63 points and China’s Shanghai Composite down 3 points.
The Australian share market finished flat on Monday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 2 points lower to 4,429 and on the futures market the SPI200 is down 19 points. Turning to currencies and the Aussie Dollar at 7:35AM was buying 89.12 US cents, 57.47 Pence Sterling, 75.88 Yen and 70.41 Euro cents.
In business news: Shares in BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) were up 0.55% to $38.11 on Monday. BHP’s proposed US$40 billion takeover of Canada’s Potash Corp has reached another hurdle, with Potash formally rejecting the miner’s all-cash offer of US $130 per share. The fertiliser company Potash Corp says that it will explore alternative and superior offers, increasing speculation that Chinese Sinofert, that own a 22% stake in the company, may enter the bidding process. BHP Billiton Ltd recorded a profit of $7.2 billion for the year ended 30 June 2009.
Shares in Abacus Property Group (ASX:ABP) were up 1.25% to $0.405 on Monday. Abacus has announced that it has sold a commercial office building in Sydney for $78 million. The property located at 343 George Street was acquired in July 2009, and the settlement is scheduled to occur this September. Abacus says funds from the settlement will provide additional liquidly to further support the company’s acquisition strategy. Abacus Property Group recorded a loss of over $102 million for the year ended 30 June 2009.
To ex-dividends, there are nine companies going ex-dividend today, among them Boral with a 6.5 cent fully franked dividend and Domino’s Pizza Enterprises with an 11.8 cent fully franked dividend. And also, Talent2 International with a 4 cent fully franked dividend and Wesfarmers with a 70 cent fully franked dividend.
To commodities: and the price of gold is down US$0.30 to $1226, silver is steady at US $17.98 and copper is also flat at $3.29 a pound.
The price of oil is down $0.72 to US$73.10 a barrel for October light crude in New York.
