The Australian share market is expected to open weaker this morning after Wall Street stocks finished mixed overnight on investor caution over the upcoming November elections and the likelihood of more stimulus from the US Central Bank.
Earlier in the session, the latest US economic news helped to lift sentiment: The Labor Department reported that the number of Americans filing new jobless claims fell by 21,000 last week to a 3-month low of 434,000.
Checking the scoreboards now and the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 12 points at 11,114. The S&P 500 Index rose 1 point to 1,184 and the NASDAQ is up 4 points at 2,507.
European stock markets gained: London’s FTSE up 32 points, Paris rose 19 and Frankfurt added 27 points.
Asian markets were mixed: Hong Kong Hang Seng rose 46, Tokyo’s Nikkei fell 21 and China slipped 4.
The Australian share market rose yesterday, largely due to ANZ’s healthy profit. The S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 37 points to close at 4,685 and on the futures market the SPI200 is down 6 points. A quick check of currencies at 8.15am the Aussie Dollar gained against the US and was buying 97.92 US cents, but it fell against the other major currencies and was buying 61.43 Pence Sterling, 79.33 Yen and 70.29 Euro cents.
In economic news: ABS releases its International Trade Price Indexes for September.
Briefly in business news this morning: Shares in ASX (ASX:ASX) gained 1.5% to close at $37.86 yesterday. The ASX and the Singapore Exchange Securities appear to be stepping up their efforts to gain political approval for their proposed $8 billion merger. Already a number of independent MPs have publicly rejected the proposed deal. According to the Australian Financial Review, ASX executives will today meet with shadow treasurer Joe Hockey to make their case for the deal. The Australian also reports that the Singapore Exchange has yet to lodge a notification with the Foreign Investment Review Board, suggesting that Singapore is adopting a wait and see approach on the political situation in Australia. In the year to 30 June, 2010, the ASX posted a net profit after tax of $328 million.
Shares in Westfield Group (ASX:WDC) rose 2.38% to close at $12.50 yesterday. Westfield’s Sydney City complex officially opened yesterday and already an analyst from Deutsche Bank believes it could generate a $640 million revaluation gain for the group on completion. After 10 years in the making, the shopping centre is the first that Westfield has built in an Australian CBD and when combined with its adjoining Sydney Central Plaza, is predicted to generate more than $600 million a year in sales. Expectations are that Westfield may also look to sell half or all of its interest in the office tower components of the project and the new Westfield corporate headquarters – which could generate another $500 million-plus. Westfield Group posted a net profit after tax of $965.8 million dollars for the six months to 30 June, 2010.
Among those companies going ex-dividend are FFI Holdings 15 cent fully franked, Foster’s 15.25 cent fully franked and Harvey Norman 7 cent fully franked.
To commodities: The price of gold rose US$19.90 to US $1,342 an ounce for the December contract on Comex, silver is up US$0.47 to $23.88 and copper is up $0.01 at $3.79 a pound.
The price of oil gained $0.24 to US$82.18 a barrel for December light crude in New York.
