The local share market looks like it may be in for a flat start this morning after Wall St closed steady overnight.
US stocks closed flat to slightly lower on Thursday with declines in the banks dragging on the market as investors worried about the impact of foreclose probes in the banking sector, which could undermine the economy’s recovery.
In economic news out of the US overnight: The Labor Department reported that the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose to 462,000 last week, up from 449,000 the week before. Economists expected jobless claims to rise to 450,000.
In another Government report, a read on inflation at the manufacturing level increased 0.4% in September, the same pace as in August.
And the Commerce Department reported that the US trade balance widened to $46.3 billion in August from $42.6 billion in July.
Looking at the figures, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 2 points lower at 11,095. The S&P 500 Index is down 4 at 1,174 and the NASDAQ closed 6 weaker at 2,435.
European stocks were mixed: London’s FTSE fell 20 points, Paris is dropped 9 and Frankfurt added 21.
Asian markets were stronger on Thursday: Hong Kong Hang Seng up 394, Tokyo’s Nikkei is 180 points higher and China’s Shanghai Composite gained 18.
The Australian share market finished higher yesterday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 79 points higher at 4,699 and on the futures market the SPI200 is down 10 points. Turning to currencies and the Aussie Dollar at 8:40AM was buying 99.42 US cents, 62.13 Pence Sterling, 80.99 Yen and 70.63 Euro cents.
In company news: Shares in engineering and infrastructure firm Downer EDI Ltd (ASX:DOW) closed steady at $4.74 on Thursday. The company has secured $300 million worth of rail contracts and extensions. Pacific National has placed an order for 13 new locomotives to support their coal haulage services in NSW. Downer says it will progressively deliver the new fleet beginning in 2011 with the last delivery by mid 2012. The company has also been awarded a contract by Australian Rail Track Corp to undertake rail upgrade work. In addition Downer has secured an 18 month extension of the V1 Alliance with Australian Rail Track Corp for rail track maintenance and infrastructure work in VIC and southern NSW. Downer reported profit of $3.05 million for the 12 months to June 30, 2010, a big drop from the year before.
Shares in mining services company Ausdrill Ltd (ASX:ASL) lost 3.1% to $2.19 yesterday. The company has won a contract for work at the Central Ashanti Gold Project in West Africa. The contract, awarded to Ausdrill subsidiary Africa Mining Services, is expected to commence pre-production in March 2011 and will generate US$300 million in revenue over 63 months. The mining contact is for a complete service including grade control, drilling and blasting, loading and hauling ore and waste and crusher feed. Ausdrill earned $48.17 million in the 2010 financial year.
To ex-dividends, Just one company going ex-dividend today and that is Tidewater Investments with a 1 cent fully franked dividend. Coming up next week we have Amcom Telecommunications on Monday and New Hope Corp on Tuesday.
To commodities: and the price of gold is up US$7.10 to US $1377 an ounce for the December contract on Comex, silver is up US$0.50 to $24.44 and copper is steady at $3.82 a pound.
The price of oil is down $0.32 to US$82.69 a barrel for November light crude in New York.
