The Australian share market looks poised to rise this morning having received positive offshore leads. Wall St’s key indices lifted at the beginning of the week, with President Obama affirming his commitment to promoting economic growth in a speech to the Chamber of Commerce. While at home Aussie shares were dragged down by the retailers, following Myer’s full year profit downgrade coupled with news that retail sales growth eased in December.
On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, closed 69 points higher to 12,162, S&P500 lifted 8 points to close 1,319 and the NASDAQ gained 15 points to close 2,784.
European stocks were higher: London’s FTSE up 54 points, Paris up 44 and Frankfurt up 67.
To Asian markets, stocks were mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 355 points, Tokyo was up 49 points and China’s Shanghai Composite was closed.
The Australian share market finished slightly higher on Monday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index firmed 6 points to close at 4,869 and on the futures market the SPI is up 19 points. To currencies: The Australian Dollar at 8:50AM was buying $US1.0136 cents, 62.94 Pence Sterling, 83.52 Yen and 74.63 Euro cents.
Economic news: National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX:NAB) is set to release its first quarter trading statement and monthly business survey for January. Also due, the Charter Hall direct property 2011 real estate market outlook briefing.
Company news: On Monday shares in MAp Group (ASX:MAP) rose 0.99 per cent to close at $3.05. MAp Group’s (ASX:MAP) 74 per cent owned Sydney Airport has been dealt a blow by Australia’s competition watchdog, claiming the airport has the highest average prices and worst quality of service in the country. In its annual report on airport performance, The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission claims that airlines have consistently identified Sydney Airport as the least responsive of the airports with respect to service delivery and quality. Just last month MAp Group said Sydney Airport delivered annual traffic growth of 7.8 per cent in 2010. MAp Group booked a net loss of $5.83 million in the first six months of 2010. Yesterday shares in Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) fell 0.63 per cent to close at $85.86. Analysts have tipped that Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) are gearing up to reveal $US10 billion of share buybacks when the global miners release their earnings reports this month. The Australian says that Deutsche Bank has forecast Rio and BHP will each announce $US5 billion buyback, as investors look set to benefit from rising iron ore, coal, copper and energy prices. Rio Tinto will this Thursday report its earnings with Deutche Bank tipping the miner will post a $US14 billion net profit in the year to 31 December 2010. Rio Tinto reported a net profit of $7.4 billion in the six months to 30 June 2010.
Ex-dividends: Two companies are going ex-dividend today, they are Crane Group with a $0.22 cent fully franked dividend and Navitas with a $0.09 cent fully franked dividend.
To commodities: Gold is down $0.80 to $US1,348 an ounce for the April contract on Comex, silver is up $0.28 to $29.34 for March and copper is steady $4.58 a pound. Oil is down $1.55 at $87.48 a barrel for March light crude in New York.
