The Australian share market looks poised for a soft start, with the SPI lower after Wall St closed slightly higher in a choppy day of trade. US investors absorbed a mixed batch of economic data, but sentiment was given a boost with professional-networking website LinkedIn's share price doubling on its first trading day after its initial public offering.
US economic news: The National Association of Realtors reported that existing home sales fell more than expected, dropping 0.8 per cent in April to an annual rate of 5.05 million. Also, The Conference Board’s index on leading economic indicators posted its first fall in 10 months, dipping 0.3 per cent in April, after a rise of 0.4 per cent the month before. However, The Labor Department showed an unexpected fall in jobless claims.The number of Americans filling for their first week of unemployment benefits dropped 29,000 in the week ended on 14 May, from 438,000 initial claims filed the week before.
To the figures: On Thursday, The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 45 points to close at 12,605, the S&P500 added 3 points to close at 1,344 and the NASDAQ firmed 8 points to close at 2,823.
European stocks closed higher: London’s FTSE up 33 points, Paris up 50 and Frankfurt was up 55 points.
To Asian markets and stocks were mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 152, Tokyo Nikkei was down 41 and China’s Shanghai Composite was down 13.
The Australian share market advanced more than 1 per cent on Thursday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 63 points to close at 4,756. While on the futures market the SPI is currently 10 points weaker.
Turning to currencies and the Australian Dollar at 7:40AM was buying $1.0672 US cents, 65.71 Pence Sterling, 87.07 Yen and 74.56 Euro cents.
Economic news: Due out today is the Australian Bureau of Statistics business indicators for the March quarter.
Company news: On Thursday shares in ANZ Banking Group (ASX:ANZ) rose 1.28 per cent to close at $22.98. ANZ has stepped up its Asian expansion, singing a strategic cooperation agreement with The Export-Import Bank of China (China Eximbank). The deal is geared towards enabling ANZ to capture trade and investment flows between Chinese companies and Australia and Asia. ANZ has the largest presence in the Asia Pacific region from the big four local banks and is targeting 30 per cent earnings growth in Asia, Europe and the Americas by 2017. In the six months to 31 March 2011, ANZ’s interim net profit jumped by 38 per cent to $2.7 billion.
Yesterday shares in Qantas Airways Ltd (ASX:QAN) lifted 0.95 per cent to close at $2.12. The union representing Qantas pilots is planning to conduct a secret ballot vote to approve legally protected industrial action within months, according to the Australian Financial Review. The report comes after the deadline given by the Australian & International Pilots Association to Qantas, to respond to the union’s job security claims, expired yesterday. The AFR says long-haul pilots are now likely to take the deadlocked battle with Qantas to the next level. In the six months to 31 December 2010, Qantas reported a net profit of $239 million.
To ex-dividends: No companies are going ex-dividend today. Among those coming up next week are DuluxGroup, Orica and SP AusNet.
Commodities: Gold is down $3.40 to $US1,492 an ounce for the June contract on Comex, silver is down $0.165 to $34.93 for July and copper is down $0.05 at $4.05 a pound. Oil is down $1.66 at $98.44 a barrel for June light crude in New York.
