Aussie stocks may be in for lower start, the futures market suggesting a slight drop this morning. Wall St closed the week with modest gains amid disappointing consumer confidence data.
In US economic news: The Thomson Reuters/ University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment was expected to rise, but instead fell to 66.6 in September, from 68.9 in August. The US Government’s consumer price index revealed prices increased 0.3 per cent in August.
On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 13 points higher at 10,608. The S&P 500 Index is steady at 1,126 and the NASDAQ is up 12 at 2,316.
European stocks were lower: London’s FTSE down 32 points, Paris is down 14 and Frankfurt down 40.
Asian markets were mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was 279 points up on Friday, Tokyo’s Nikkei up 117 points and China’s Shanghai Composite was down 4 points.
The Australian share market finished higher on Friday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 34 higher to 4,639 and on the futures market the SPI200 is down 22 points. Turning to currencies and the Aussie Dollar at 7:50AM was buying 93.84 US cents, 59.95 Pence Sterling, 80.48 Yen and 71.9 Euro cents.
In local economic news: Expected out today, the RBA’s Monetary policy meeting minutes, Pricewaterhouse-Coopers franchise sector indicator report and KPMG general insurance survey.
And in company news: Shares in BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) closed 0.39% higher at $38.90 on Friday. Iron ore giant BHP has had its US$40 billion hostile bid for Potash Corp supported by major world banks, according to The Australian. The paper reports that BHP’s US$45 billion syndicated note for the facility had been divided evenly between 25 global banks. Adding, that speculation is also mounting that the miner will need to increase its bid further to avoid another bidder entering the process. BHP Billiton reported a profit of $15.26 billion in fiscal 2010.
Shares in Myer Holdings Ltd (ASX:MYR) closed 1.02% up at $3.96 on Friday. Myer is planning to boost sales by $500 million in the next four years, said CEO Bernie Brookes to ABC TV on Sunday. The sales are expected to be advanced through the opening of 15 new stores and a refurbished Melbourne store. Last week Myer booked a drop in fiscal 2010 earnings to $67.2 million, but forecast a 5-10 per cent net profit increase in the next year. In the six months to 23 January 2010, Myer booked a net profit of $21.29 million.
To ex-dividends, and there are 20 companies going ex-dividend today. Among them we have: Ammtec with an 11 cent fully franked dividend, Billabong International with an 18 cent 50 per cent franked dividend, Macarthur Coal with a 17 cent fully franked dividend, Macquarie Radio Network with a 4 cent fully franked dividend, Primary Health Care with a 10 cent fully franked dividend, and REA Group with a 16 cent fully franked dividend. To commodities: and the price of gold is up US$3.70 to US $1275 for the September contract on Comex, silver is up US$0.05 to $20.79 and copper is up $0.03 at $3.51 a pound. The price of oil is down $0.91 to US$73.66 a barrel for October light crude in New York.
