Following mixed leads from US markets, the Australian share market looks set to open higher this morning with a positive futures index. At market close on Friday, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both gained while the Dow closed lower after a solid week of gains. Telecommunications did well overall, but Apple saw its worst week in over a year after the release of its new iPhone last week. On the commodities front, demand for oil is keeping prices above $50 a barrel, and gold is up. Iron ore has dropped 1.7 per cent.
Local economic newsWe can expect the weekly consumer confidence figures on Tuesday. The ABS is releasing population data for the March quarter, finance and wealth figures for June, and job vacancies for August later in the week. The Reserve Bank is releasing private sector credit figures for August on Friday.
MarketsWall Street closed mixed on Friday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed flat 0.04 per cent to close at 22,350, the S&P 500 added 0.1 per cent to close at 2,502 and the NASDAQ up 0.1 per cent to close at 6,427.
European markets closed mixed: London’s FTSE up 0.6 per cent, Paris up 0.3 per cent and Frankfurt down 0.1 per cent.
Asian markets closed lower: Tokyo’s Nikkei added 0.3 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng down 0.8 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite down 0.2 per cent.
The Australian share market closed higher on Friday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 27 points up to finish at 5,682.
On the futures market the SPI is 7 points up.
Company newsCimic
(ASX:CIM) has announced its company CPB contractors has won a deal to upgrade Queensland government’s Capricornia Corrective Centre. It is expected the contact to design and build the prison facility will generate approximately $145 million in revenue for the company. Construction is expected to commence early next year and finish in 2020. The facility will receive a security upgrade and new cells to support an increase in capacity and ongoing prison services. The prison, located in northern Queensland, provides facilities for high and low security prisoners with vocational education and training programs. Shares in Cimic
(ASX:CIM) last traded down 0.53 per cent lower at $43.29.
Ex-dividends8 companies are going ex-dividend today. Chorus Limited is paying 11.41 cents unfranked, SG Fleet Group is paying 9.27 cents fully franked, and WPP is paying 2.1 cents fully franked.
CurrenciesOne Australian Dollar at 7:40AM was buying US 79.58 cents, 59.01 Pence Sterling, 89.27 Yen and 66.86 Euro cents.
Commodities Gold has gained US$2.70 to $US1,298 an ounce.
Silver has lost $0.03 cents to $US16.98 an ounce.
Oil has gained $0.11 cents to $US50.66 a barrel.
