The Australian market is likely to open lower today, after global markets dropped amid escalating political unrest in the Middle East and North Africa. Oil exporter Libya declared force majeure on all oil product exports, sending the price of oil up. European stocks closed at near a three-week low while US stocks also fell sharply, despite some positive consumer confidence data.
US economic news: S&P/Case-Shiller home price index, a measure of market trends, showed that national home prices fell 4.1 per cent in the December quarter, down 1.9 per cent from the prior quarter. The Conference Board, a business research group, presented a better than expected read for consumer confidence. The consumer confidence index climbed to a three year high of 70.4 in February from 64.8 the month before.
On Tuesday, Dow Jones Industrial Average, closed 178 points lower to 12,213, S&P500 fell 28 points to close 1,315 and the NASDAQ dropped 78 points to close 2,756.
European stocks closed lower: London’s FTSE down 18 points, Paris down 47 and Frankfurt down 3.
To Asian markets and stocks also closed lower: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 495, Tokyo Nikkei was down 193 and China’s Shanghai Composite was down 77 points.
The Australian share market finished weaker on Tuesday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index dropped 43 points to close at 4,857 and on the futures market the SPI is down 44 points.
Turning to currencies and the Australian Dollar at 8:35AM was buying $US99.92 cents, 61.93 Pence Sterling, 82.69 Yen and 73.17 Euro cents.
Economic news: Due out today is the Australian Bureau of Statistics labour price index and construction work done, both for the December quarter.
Company news: On Tuesday shares in Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:WHC) fell 1.42 per cent to close at $6.95. Whitehaven Coal has booked a net loss for the first half of the 2011 financial year, but advises that it expects to move into profitability in the next six months. The coal miner says its interim result was weighed down by $68 million in significant items, while in the same period revenue rose 60 per cent to $318 million. During the half year Whitehaven says it was affected by unseasonably wet weather impacting the cost of fulfilling legacy contracts, however, underlying growth has continued. After significant items, full year net profit after tax is expected to be between $15 million and $20 million. In the six months to 31 December 2010, Whitehaven Coal posted a net loss of $35 million.
Yesterday shares in Australian Infrastructure Fund Ltd (ASX:AIX) closed 0.26 per cent higher at $1.96. Australian Infrastructure Fund has recorded a 32 per cent decline in first half earnings to a loss of $88 million, but says its portfolio is well positioned for the future. In the same period the company says independent valuations of its assets booked unrealised gains of $67 million, compared to gains of $111 million a year earlier. Despite the result, Australian Infrastructure Fund says its Australian airports, which comprise of 83.5 per cent of its portfolio, are expected to benefit from airline competition, low cost carrier expansion, route development and the regional potential within the Asia-Pacific. In the six months to 31 December 2010, Australian Infrastructure Fund booked a net profit of $88.2 million.
Ex-dividends: Six companies are going ex-dividend today. Among them we have Adelaide Brighton with a $0.12 cent fully franked dividend and Santos with a $0.15 cent fully franked dividend. Among those coming up tomorrow are Country Road.
Commodities: Gold is up $12.50 to $US1,401 an ounce for the April contract on Comex, silver is up $0.57 to $32.86 for March and copper is down $0.14 at $4.35 a pound. Oil is up $5.71 at $95.42 a barrel for April light crude in New York.
