The Australian market looks set to open higher today after the US closed in positive territory. In a low volume session, gains on Wall St were led by the telecommunication, energy and retail stocks as investors looked beyond a disappointing outlook for the housing market and geopolitical concerns.
US economic news: The S&P Case-Shiller home price index of 20 major cities revealed a 3.1 per cent fall in home prices in January on an annual basis, while on a monthly basis home prices fell 1 per cent. A spokesperson for S&P said, “January’s figures brought weakening home prices with no real hope in sight for the near future”.
On Tuesday the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 81 points higher, closing at 12,279, S&P500 gained 9 points to close at 1,319 and the NASDAQ added 26 points to close at 2,757.
European stocks ended mixed: London’s FTSE up 28 points, Paris up 11 and Frankfurt down 4.
Asian markets, stocks were lower: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 8, Tokyo’s Nikkei was down 19 and China’s Shanghai Composite was down 26 points.
The Australian share market closed higher on Tuesday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 22 points to close at 4,756. On the futures market the SPI is currently 27 points stronger.
Currencies: The Australian Dollar at 8:40AM was buying $US1.0289 cents, 64.28 Pence Sterling, 84.88 Yen and 72.92 Euro cents.
Economic news: Due out today, the Australian Bureau of Statistics job vacancies data for February.
Company news: On Tuesday shares in Westfield Group (ASX:WDC) eased 0.21 per cent to close at $9.40. Outgoing Westfield executive chairman Frank Lowy scored a 7 per cent pay rise last year, taking home almost $16 million for his final full year in the role. The shopping mall giant’s annual report has revealed that Mr Lowy’s performance bonus lifted to $7 million, in addition to a base salary of $8 million, in line with the year before. Mr Lowy will retire at Westfield’s annual meeting in May and receive $750,000 per year as a non-executive chairman of the company. In the 2010 financial year Westfield Group posted a $1.1 billion net profit.
Yesterday shares in Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd (ASX:HVN) rose 1.01 per cent to close at $3.00. Harvey Norman’s executive chairman Gerry Harvey has unveiled plans to launch an online retail store within weeks, in an effort to combat rising competition among Australia’s biggest retailers. The electrical products retailer currently has an online catalogue but without a purchase facility. The announcement to introduce one comes hot on the heels of Myer Holdings Ltd’s (ASX:MYR) online store launched last month. Speaking to Fairfax media Mr Harvey says he hasn’t got any choice but to cannibalise the Harvey Norman stores. In the first six months of the 2011 financial year Harvey Norman reported a net profit of $134 million.
Ex-dividends: The only company going ex-dividend today is ARB Corporation with a $0.10 fully franked dividend. Among those coming up tomorrow are Carsales.com with a $0.09 fully franked dividend and National Can Industries with a $0.01 fully franked dividend.
Commodities: Gold is down $3.70 to $US1,416 an ounce for the April contract on Comex, silver is down $0.10 to $36.99 for May and copper is flat at $4.35 a pound. Oil is up $0.81 at $104.79 a barrel for April light crude in New York.
