The Australian share market is expected to open the week softer after a lack lustre lead from Wall Street overnight coupled with lower commodity prices. US markets were down by a quarter to a fifth of one per cent, oil prices were easing as were metal prices. Investors may also be wary ahead of fresh data due out this week, including Australian Bureau of Statistics’ retail trade figures and construction data.
On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, closed 23 points lower to 11,675. S&P500 lost 2 points to close 1,272 and the NASDAQ lost 7 points to close at 2,703.
European stocks were lower: London’s FTSE is down 35 points, Paris is down 39 and Frankfurt is down 34.
To Asian markets, stocks were also mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 100 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei up 11 and China’s Shanghai Composite up 15 points.
The Australian share market closed lower on Friday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index lost 20 to close at 4,705 and on the futures market the SPI is 17 points lower. Turning to currencies and the Aussie Dollar at 7:50AM was buying 99.38 US cents, 64.07 Pence Sterling, 82.73 Yen and 77.24 Euro cents.
Company news: On Friday shares in ANZ Banking Group Ltd (ASX:ANZ) closed 0.74 per cent lower at $22.92. ANZ’s China chief executive Christine Ip has resigned and moved to Singapore as competition intensifies for experienced financial talent in the region. ANZ’s current deputy chief executive in China, Grant Knuckley, will take over Ms Ip’s role until the company finds a replacement. In addition to operations in China, ANZ owns a 20 per cent stake in the unlisted Bank of Tianjin and Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank, the maximum foreign ownership allowed under Chinese regulations. For the year ended 30 September 2010, ANZ reported a net profit of $4.5 billion.
On Friday shares in Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX:MQG) closed 0.45 per cent higher at $37.88. The Australian Financial Review has reported that Macquarie Group is set to take on Australian LNG providers directly through its gas export venture on the coast of the United States. According to the report, the company is targeting some of Australia’s biggest customers and is in negotiations with groups from Japan, China and South Korea, with interests in supply from the planned $2 billion Freeport LNG terminal in the Gulf of Mexico. For the half year ended 30 September 2010, Macquarie reported a net profit of $411 million.
Ex-dividends: Tower Ltd (ASX:TWR) is going ex-dividend today with a 4.55 cent unfranked dividend and coming up tomorrow is Newhaven Hotels Ltd (ASX:NHH).
Commodities: Gold is down $2.80 to $US1,368 an ounce for the February contract on Comex, silver is down $0.46 to $28.67 for March and copper is down $0.05 to $4.28 a pound. Oil is down $0.35 at $88.03 a barrel for February light crude in New York.
