The SPI is pointing to a positive start for the Australian market, following on from some healthy offshore leads. Wall St closed with solid gains, as the price of oil eased from its recent rally. At home eyes will be on the local bourse operator at open, after a computer glitch yesterday forced the Australian Securities Exchange to close early.
US economic news: The Commerce Department showed that Americans earned more than expected in January. Personal income was up 1 per cent in the month, after a rise of just 0.4 per cent the month before.
On Monday, Dow Jones Industrial Average, closed 96 points higher to 12,226, S&P500 rose 7 points to close 1,327 and the NASDAQ firmed 1 point to close 2,782.
European stocks started the week mixed: London’s FTSE down 7 points, Paris up 40 and Frankfurt up 87.
To Asian markets and stocks were higher: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 326, Tokyo Nikkei was up 97 and China’s Shanghai Composite was up 26 points.
The Australian share market finished flat on Monday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index easing 6 points to close at 4,831 and on the futures market the SPI is up 20 points.
Turning to currencies and the Australian Dollar at 8:30AM was buying $US1.0184 cents, 62.64 Pence Sterling, 83.28 Yen and 73.79 Euro cents.
Economic news: The Reserve Bank of Australia will today conduct its monthly board meeting and release its monetary policy decision. The RBA is also due to release its index of commodity prices for February. From the Australian Bureau of Statistics due out today is the balance of payments and international investment position in December, retail trade in January and Government Finance Statistics for the December quarter. And, from the Australian Industry Group-PricewaterhouseCoopers Australian Performance of Manufacturing Index for February 2011.
Company news: Shares in Centro Properties Group (ASX:CNP) last traded at $0.15. Troubled shopping centre operator Centro Properties Group is believed to have inked a $9.2 billion deal to sell its 588 shopping malls in the US to private equity firm Blackstone Group. According to a number of media reports the property transaction is one of the largest to take place since the global financial crisis in 2008. Melbourne-based Centro Properties Group and and its satellite trust Centro Retail Group yesterday entered into a trading halt, pending an announcement about "a potential transaction”. Confirmation of the deal is expected out today. Centro Properties Group reported a net profit of $790 million in the first half of its current financial year.
Shares in Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) firmed 1.19 per cent to close at $84.93. Rio Tinto has struck a supply agreement with China’s biggest publicly traded steelmaker, Baoshan Iron & Steel. The Chinese company says the deal was signed last week and will see Rio supply coking coal for the next three years. While the value or volume of the transaction has not as yet been disclosed, the deal builds on Rio’s presence in the Chinese market, that delivers the global miner around one quarter of its sales. In the 2010 financial year, Rio Tinto posted a net profit of $14.9 billion
To ex-dividends: 12 companies are going ex-dividend today. Among them we have Aristocrat Leisure with a $0.02 unfranked dividend, Fairfax Media with a $0.02 fully franked dividend, Hills Holdings with a $0.06 fully franked dividend, Origin Energy a $0.25 fully franked dividend, Pacific Brands a $0.03 fully franked dividend and Slater & Gordon a $0.02 fully franked dividend. Among those coming up tomorrow are Blackmores and Caltex.
To commodities: Gold is up $0.60 to $US1,409 an ounce for the April contract on Comex, silver is up $0.91 to $33.80 for March and copper is up 0.04 at $4.48 a pound. Oil is down $0.91 at $96.97 a barrel for April light crude in New York.
