The Australian share market is expected to open higher today after receiving a strong lead from Wall Street and higher commodity prices. US stocks advanced overnight as investors remain optimistic about the prospects for equities next year. At closing bell, all the indices were higher as traders look to finish the year with a happy ending.
On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, closed 10 points higher to 11,585. S&P500 is up 1 point to 1,260 and the NASDAQ is up 4 points to 2,667.
European stocks were mixed: London’s FTSE was down 13, Paris is up 32 and Frankfurt is up 23.
To Asian markets, stocks were higher: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 348, Tokyo’s Nikkei was up 52 points and China’s Shanghai Composite up 19 points.
The Australian share market finished lower on Wednesday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index dropped 2 points to close at 4,775 and on the futures market the SPI is down 1 point.
Currencies: The Aussie Dollar at 7:30am was buying $US1.018, 65.7 Pence Sterling, 83.17 Yen and 77 Euro cents.
Company news: Yesterday, shares in Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) closed 1.02 per cent lower at $85.48. Rio Tinto has declared a force majeure on coal sales contracts from mines in which it has a majority interest, saying heavy rains in Queensland has affected its operations. The global miner says the monsoonal rains have cut access roads and rail networks, adversely impacting mining operations. Some of the affected mines include Hail Creek, Kestrel and Clermont, all located in Queensland’s Bowen Basin. Rio says it is not yet able to assess the full impact the rains have had on coal mining and transportation lines. For the year ended 30 June 2010, Rio reported a net profit of $7.3 billion.
On Wednesday, shares in Kangaroo Resources Ltd (ASX:KRL) closed 18.42 per cent higher at $0.225. Kangaroo Resources has bought a 99 per cent stake in a large thermal coal project in Indonesia. The company bought the stake in the Pakar thermal coal project located in East Kalimantan from PT Bayan Resources in a scrip deal valued at $277 million. Following the completion of the deal, Bayan will emerge with a 57 per cent stake in Kangaroo Resources. The agreement with Bayan is subject to due diligence which will be carried out over the next 30 days. For the year ended 30 June 2010, Kangaroo Resources reported a net loss of $45 million.
Ex-dividends: There are no companies going ex-dividend today but one company going ex-dividend tomorrow is Clime Capital.
Commodities: Gold is up $7.90 to $US1,413 an ounce for the February contract on Comex, silver is up $0.38 at $30.70 for March and copper is down $0.02 to $4.31 a pound and oil is down $0.37 at $US91.12 a barrel for February light crude in New York.
