The Australian share market looks set for softer start to the day, following a flat close on Wall St after a mainly quiet session. Eyes are still on the political unrest in Libya, with oil prices remaining the dominant concern.
In US economic news: The Commerce Department reported that wholesale inventories lifted 1.1 per cent in January, coming in slightly above expectations.
On Wednesday Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1 point to close at 12,213, the S&P500 eased 2 points to close 1,320 and the NASDAQ slipped 14 point to close 2,752.
European stocks closed lower: London’s FTSE down 37 points, Paris down 22 and Frankfurt down 33.
To Asian markets and stocks were higher: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 98, Tokyo Nikkei up 64 and China’s Shanghai Composite up 2 points.
The Australian share market closed lower on Wednesday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 40 points to close at 4,768. On the futures market the SPI is currently 2 points firmer.
Turning to currencies and the Australian Dollar at 8:40AM was buying just over $US1.0014 cent, 62.38 Pence Sterling, 83.6 Yen and 72.65 Euro cents.
Economic news: Due out today from the Australian Bureau of Statistics is labour force data for February.
Company news: On Wednesday shares in National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX:NAB) dropped 0.87 per cent to close at $25.08. NAB’s CEO Cameron Clyne has blamed the government for destroying industry profitability, claiming that some action the government takes to bring about reform does more damage than competition between the big four banks. Mr Clyne also promised that NAB’s Breaking Up campaign was just heating up and refuted claims that competition between the big banks strains retail banks' margins. Mr Clyne has called for the government to focus on structural reform to lower the reliance bank’s have on wholesale funding markets. In the 2010 financial year National Australia Bank posted a net profit of $4.2 billion.
Yesterday shares in Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:WHC) slipped 0.72 per cent to close at $6.85. Korea Resources Corp and Daewoo International Corp have abandoned their bid for Whitehaven Coal, they say “to focus on other business”. Whitehaven last year put itself up for sale, and Korea Resources last month confirmed its consortium with Daewoo was a shortlisted bidder for the asset believed to be worth over $3.5 billion. In the six months to 31 December 2010, Whitehaven Coal booked a net loss of $35 million.
Ex-dividends: And 10 companies are going ex-dividend today. Among them we have Cash Converters International with a $0.02 fully franked dividend, Macquarie Telecom Group with a $0.10 fully franked dividend, Mineral Resources with a $0.15 fully franked dividend and Supply Network with a $0.02 fully franked dividend. Among those coming up tomorrow are Automotive Holdings, Amcom Telecommunications and Boart Longyear.
Commodities: and the price of gold is up $2.40 to $US1,429 an ounce for the April contract on Comex, silver is up $0.39 to $36.05 for May and copper is down $0.13 at $4.21 a pound. Oil is down $0.64 at $104.38 a barrel for April light crude in New York.
