The Australian market is receiving strong, positive leads from offshore trading overnight, with all key markets significantly higher as investors continue to cheer the Federal Reserve's announcement to pump US$600 billion into the economy.
That news overshadowed the latest jobs data, which found the number of Americans filing first-time unemployment benefits rose by 20,000 last week to 457,000 compared to the week before.
All three major US indexes closed at fresh two-year highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 220 points to 11,435. The S&P 500 Index up 23 points at 1,221 and the NASDAQ climbed 37 points to 2,577.
European stocks were higher: London’s FTSE rose 114, Paris gained 74 and Frankfurt up 117 points.
Asian markets stocks were stronger: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 391, Tokyo’s Nikkei up 199 and China’s Shanghai Composite up 56 points.
The Australian share market finished higher on Thursday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index up 23 points to 4,745 and on the futures market the SPI200 is up 74 points. The Australian dollar has soared to another record high at the close as investors absorbed the implications of US Central Bank’s latest stimulus. At 8:15AM this morning the Aussie is buying US$1.0148, 62.4 Pence Sterling, 81.93 Yen and 71.46 Euro cents.
In today’s economic news, the RBA releases its Statement on Monetary Policy.
In company news:Shares in BHP (ASX: BHP) rose 2.56% to close at $43.72 on Thursday. The mining giant is facing renewed calls to return billions of dollars to shareholders as it attempts to keep its $US40 billion hostile bid for Canada’s Potash Corp alive. Its bid was formally rejected by the Canadian government yesterday on the basis that it was not in the country’s interest. It also seen as the third strike against BHP chief executive Marius Kloopers who has been trying to grow the BHP empire through further acquisitions. Some analysts are now saying that BHP should consider a share buyback to allow it to return some funds to shareholders whilst being ready to pounce if another opportunity presents itself. In the 2010 financial year BHP Billiton booked a net profit of $15.26 billion.
Shares in Telstra (ASX: TLS) rose 0.75% to close at $2.68 on Thursday. The Federal Government has gained some ground in its plan to split Telstra's (ASX:TLS) business as Family First senator Steve Fielding dropped his opposition to the reform. The Australian Financial Review reports that Mr Fielding expressed guarded support for the move after meetings with Telstra chief executive David Thodey, NBN Co chief executive Mike Quigley and Communications Minister Stephen Conroy. The move means the federal opposition can no longer count on Mr Fielding's vote to help it block the bill in the Senate. Telstra’s 2010 fiscal year result was a profit of $3.94 billion.
To ex-dividends: Australian Pharmaceutical Industries is going today with a 1.5 cent fully franked.
To commodities: and the price of gold soared $US45.50 to $US1,383 an ounce for the December contract on Comex, silver jumped $US1.61 to $US26.04 and copper rose $US0.13 to $US3.91 a pound.
The price of oil is $US1.80 higher at $US86.49 a barrel for December light crude in New York.
