The Australian share market may open lower today, as US stocks fell from four-month highs to close down. However a series of deals on Wall St and positive gains in September, have helped to lift sentiment as investors remain optimistic. On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 48 points lower at 10,812. The S&P 500 Index is down 7 at 1,142 and the NASDAQ is down 11 at 2,370.
European stocks were lower: London’s FTSE down 25 points, Paris is down 16 and Frankfurt down 19.
Asian markets were higher: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was 221 points up on Monday, Tokyo’s Nikkei up 131 points and China’s Shanghai Composite was up 36.
The Australian share market finished higher on Monday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 74 higher to 4,675 and on the futures market the SPI200 is down 18 points. Turning to currencies and the Aussie Dollar at 7:40AM was buying 96.11 US cents, 60.74 Pence Sterling, just over 81 Yen and 71.45 Euro cents.
In company news: Shares in Seven Group Holdings Ltd (ASX:SVW) closed 2.35% up at $6.98 on Monday. The Seven Network is expected to reap the benefits from the AFL grand final replay this Saturday. According to The Age, Seven could make $10 million, with every five minutes of advertising anticipated to fetch $1 million. The paper reports that Seven’s coverage of the grand final reached 2.76 million last Saturday, and the network has affirmed that advertisers have already shown significant interest in being part of the broadcast this weekend. Seven Group Holdings booked a $718.74 million profit in the 2010 financial year.
Shares in ANZ Banking Group (ASX:ANZ) closed 2.54% up at $24.20 on Monday. ANZ is making its mark in China, the Australian Associated Press reporting that the bank will now establish a Chinese language centre to support its operations in the country. According to AAP, the bank already has three foreign bank branches and two sub-branches in China, and intends to launch 20 outlets in the next three years. In the report, chief executive Mike Smith says ANZ has a long-term commitment to China which involves investing into people, systems and infrastructure to support growth. In the six months to 31 March 2010, ANZ earned $1.93 billion.
To ex-dividends: The only company going ex-dividend today is Seymour Whyte with a 4 cent fully franked dividend. Among the companies coming up tomorrow are Goodman Fielder and MAP Group.
To commodities: and the price of gold is up US$0.70 to US $1296 an ounce for the September contract on Comex, silver is up US$0.07 to $21.46 and copper is down $0.02 at $3.59 a pound. The price of oil is up $0.03 to US$76.52 a barrel for November light crude in New York.
