The Australian share market looks set to open weaker this morning following negative offshore leads. Wall Street slumped on news of unrest in the oil-rich nation of Saudi Arabia. Poor data from China, Spain and the US forced international markets lower. It’s likely that yesterday’s heavy falls will be compounded today.
US economic news: The US trade deficit widened by 15.1 per cent in January, much more than expected. And initial claims for unemployment benefits rose 26,000 last week to 397,000.
On Thursday the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 228 points to close at 11,985, the S&P500 eased 25 points to close 1,295 and the NASDAQ slipped 51 points to close 2,701.
European stocks closed lower: London’s FTSE down 92 points, Paris down 30 and Frankfurt down 69.
To Asian markets and stocks were lower: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 195, Tokyo's Nikkei down 155 and China’s Shanghai Composite down 45 points.
The Australian share market closed lower on Thursday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 68 points to close at 4,700. On the futures market the SPI is currently 34 points weaker.
Turning to currencies and the Australian Dollar at 8:30AM was buying $US1.0003 cents, 62.32 Pence Sterling, 82.96 Yen and 72.54 Euro cents.
Company news: On Thursday shares in Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX:MQG) dropped 1.1 per cent to close at $35.94. Macquarie Group is buying REGAL Capital Advisors, a boutique investment bank based in Los Angeles. The move signals Macquarie’s focus to expand further into North America. The terms have not been disclosed. The transaction is tipped to close in the first half of this year pending approval. In the six months to 30 September 2010, Macquarie Group posted a net profit of $411 million.
Yesterday shares in Qantas Airways Ltd (ASX:QAN) slipped 2.56 per cent to close at $2.28. Qantas has announced further enhancements to its regional routes. These enhancements include self-service check-ins. The new systems will be rolled out at 21 locations over the coming months. The system is already active in Sydney, Perth and Melbourne. It comes after Monday’s announcement that the airline will put on more flights and additional aircraft across regional Queensland. For the half year ended 31 December 2010, Qantas reported a net profit of $239 million.
To ex-dividends: And 25 companies are going ex-dividend today. Among them we have Automotive Holdings with a $0.07 fully franked dividend, Count Financial with a $0.02 fully franked dividend, Fantastic with a $0.05 fully franked dividend, Leighton Holdings with a $0.60 fully franked dividend, Macarthur Coal with a $0.24 fully franked dividend, Patties Foods with a $0.04 fully franked dividend, Sims Metal Management with a $0.12, 42% franked dividend and Wotif.com Holdings with a $0.10 fully franked dividend.
To commodities: And the price of gold is down $17.10 to $US1,412 an ounce for the April contract on Comex, silver is down $0.98 to $35.07 for May and copper is down $0.02 at $4.20 a pound. Oil is down $1.68 at $102.70 a barrel for April light crude in New York.
