The Australian share market looks to open slightly higher this morning, the futures suggesting modest gains boosted by stronger commodity prices and a higher Australian dollar. On Friday Wall St finished stronger. Despite a much worse than expected US jobs report, investors looked instead to what policy changes may be generated from the disappointing numbers.
In US economic news: The Labour Department revealed the unemployment rate advanced from 9.6 per cent to 9.8 per cent in November. The US economy gained 39,000 jobs in the same month, representing the smallest number since September and again, lower than had been expected.
On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, closed 20 points higher to 11,382. S&P500 rose 3 points to 1,225 and the NASDAQ added 12 points to 2,591.
European stocks were mixed: London’s FTSE is down 22 points, Paris is up 4 points and Frankfurt is down 10.
To Asian markets, stocks were also mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 128, Tokyo’s Nikkei was up 10 points and China’s Shanghai Composite is down 1 point.
The Australian share market finished higher on Friday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 18 points to close at 4,694 and on the futures market the SPI is up 4 points. Turning to currencies and the Aussie Dollar at 7:30AM was buying 99.12 US cents, 62.87 Pence Sterling, 81.89 Yen and 73.99 Euro cents.
In economic news: Due out today TD Securities-Melbourne Institute inflation gauge for November, and also, the ANZ job advertisements series for November.
Company news: Shares in AMP Ltd (ASX:AMP) closed 0.58 per cent lower at $5.11 on Friday. CEO Craig Dunn says AMP’s planned $14.6 billion takeover of AXA Asia Pacific Holdings (AXA:APH) will concentrate more on wealth management than banking. Speaking to ABC TV, Mr Dunn said the merger is fundamentally about taking the major banks on in their wealth management business. The comments come just days after AXA’s chairman confirmed the proposed merger had the unanimous support of AXA’s board. AMP booked a net profit of $412 million in the six months to 30 June 2010. AWB Ltd (ASX:AWB) last traded at $1.50 on 19 November, 2010. Agribusiness AWB has confirmed that the $1.24 billion takeover by Canada’s Agrium has been finalised. AWB says an application to delist the company from the Australian Securities Exchange will be made shortly. Agrium has not as yet detailed its plans for the business, but says it continues to evaluate options and will update the market in the near future. AWB reported a net loss of $51.1 million in the 2010 financial year.
Ex-dividends: Asian Centre for Liver Diseases and Transplantation with a 0.2 cent unfranked dividend, Century Australian Investments with a 6.2 cent fully franked dividend, Murchison Holdings with a 0.25 cent unfranked dividend, Ocean Capital with a 1 cent fully franked dividend, Ramelius Resources with a 2 cent fully franked dividend and Skywest Airlines with a 0.85 cent unfranked dividend. Coming up on Wednesday is Milton Corporation.
To commodities: Gold is up $16.90 to $US1,406 an ounce for the December contract on Comex, silver is up $0.699 to $29.27 and copper is up $0.02 to $4.00 a pound. Oil is up $1.19 at $89.19 for December light crude in New York.
