The Australian sharemarket is expected to open stronger this morning with strong leads out of the US thanks to encouraging earnings from technology companies and strong jobs data. Earnings growth helped the market overcome concerns about Japan’s nuclear worries and unrest in the Middle East. Investors shrugged off the looming crisis in Portugal, but perhaps not for long.
In US economic news: Initial claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell by 5,000 to 382,000 last week.
On Thursday The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 85 points higher at 12,171, S&P500 up 12 points to close 1,310 and the NASDAQ rose 38 points to close 2,736.
Yesterday European stocks closed higher: London’s FTSE up 85 points, Paris up 55 and Frankfurt up 129.
To Asian markets and stocks were mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng up 90 points, Tokyo Nikkei down 14 and China’s Shanghai Composite fell 2 points.
The Australian share market closed higher on Thursday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 47 points to close at 4,700. On the futures market the SPI is currently up 28 points.
Turning to currencies and the Australian Dollar at 8:15AM was buying $US1.0214 cents, 63.37 Pence Sterling, 82.71 Yen and 72.07 Euro cents.
Company news: On Thursday shares in BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) firmed 1.15 per cent to close at $44.71. BHP has approved $US7.4 billion worth of capital investments in Australian mining and infrastructure. In a statement issued in London early this morning BHP said its share of the investment was $US6.6 billion. The investment includes the development of the Jimblebar mine, rail links and additional berths and ship loaders at its Port Hedland site. BHP reported a net profit of $10.5 billion for the half year ended December 31, 2010.
Shares in Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX:TLS) fell 0.37 per cent yesterday to close at $2.66. The Future Fund has sold more of its shares in Telstra, meaning the $71 billion Future Fund is no longer a substantial shareholder. Its stake in the telco is now less than five per cent. Proceeds from the sale have been integrated into its broader portfolio. The selling program began in September last year. The Future Fund has sold down is 16.4 per cent stake on concerns that Telstra is underperforming and uncertainty over the government’s high speed broadband network. Telstra generated a net profit of $1.2 billion in the first half of the current financial year.
To ex-dividends: There are 22 companies going ex-dividend today including: Australian Education Trust with a $0.02 unfranked dividend, Aspen Group with a $0.01 unfranked dividend, Cabcharge with a $0.10 fully franked dividend, Cromwell Property with a $0.02 unfranked dividend, Myer Holdings with an $0.11 fully franked dividend, Snowball Group with a $0.02 fully franked dividend and coming up on Monday we have Crown and Seven Group.
To commodities: Gold is down $3.10 to $US1,434 an ounce for the April contract on Comex, silver is up $0.18 to $37.38 for May and copper is flat at $4.42 a pound. Oil is down $0.15 at $105.60 a barrel for May light crude in New York.
