The Australian share market looks to open steady today, following soft overseas leads and Wall St closing the session little changed. While locally the RBA is widely expected to keep the cash rate at 4.75 per cent when it meets for its monthly board meeting.
On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, closed 20 points lower to 11,362. S&P500 eased 2 points to 1,223 and the NASDAQ lifted 3 points to 2,595.
European stocks were mixed: London’s FTSE is up 25 points, Paris is down 1 point and Frankfurt is up 7.
To Asian markets, stocks were mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 83, Tokyo’s Nikkei was down 11 points and China’s Shanghai Composite is up 15 points.
The Australian share market finished lower on Monday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index lost 6 points to close at 4,689 and on the futures market the SPI is down 2 points. Turning to currencies and the Aussie Dollar at 8:30AM was buying 99 US cents, 63.02 Pence Sterling, 81.86 Yen and 74.44 Euro cents.
In economic news: The Reserve Bank of Australia will today meet for its board meeting on monetary policy, where a decision is expected on interest rates. Also due out today, Dun and Bradstreet’s business expectations survey for the 2011 March quarter and the Australian Industry Group/Housing Industry Association performance of construction index for November.
Company news: Shares in Origin Energy Ltd (ASX:ORG) improved 0.12 per on Monday to close at $16.14. Oil and gas producer Origin says it is expecting to see returns next year, from the $2.8 billion investment that was made in capital projects and acquisitions in the 2010 fiscal year. For the 2011 financial year the company expects underlying EBITDA to rise by around 35 per cent while underlying profit is expected to be 15 per cent higher in the period. Origin says it is preparing to pour around $170 million into gas and oil exploration activities in the current financial year. In the 2010 financial year Origin Energy posted a $680 million net profit.
Yesterday shares in ConnectEast Group (ASX:CEU) eased 1.11 per cent to $0.0445. ConnectEast Group has recorded increased average daily revenue of just over $622,000 in November, representing a 12.4 per cent gain from the same time last year and a 2.8 per cent lift from the month before. The toll road owner and operator of Eastlink says Eastlink booked a record amount of average workday trips in November, 211,816 average trips were recorded, representing the highest monthly figure and 10.2 per cent more than the same time last year. ConnectEast Group booked a net loss of $53.6 million in the 2010 financial year.
Ex-dividends: No companies are going ex-dividend today, but coming up tomorrow is Milton Corporation and Planet Platinum.
To commodities: Gold is up $9.90 to $US1,416 an ounce, silver is up $0.464 to $29.74 and copper is up $0.009 to $4.01 a pound. Oil is up $0.19 at $89.38 for January light crude in New York.
