The Australian share market is expected to open higher today, after a lift in US markets at the end of the week. US markets are closed today for the US memorial day public holiday.
On Friday: Dow Jones Industrial Average, closed 39 points higher at 12,442, S&P500 gained 5 points to close at 1,331 and the NASDAQ gained 14 points to close at 2,797.
European stocks ended the week higher. London was up 58, Paris was up 34 and Frankfurt up 49.
Asian stocks were mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 217, Tokyo Nikkei was down 40 and China’s Shanghai Composite was down 27 point.
On Friday the Australian share market ended the week higher. The S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 24 points to close at 4,684. While on the futures market the SPI is currently up 5 points.
Currencies: the Australian Dollar at 7.35AM was buying $1.07.26 US cents, 65.08 Pence Sterling, 86.6 Yen and 74.93 Euro cents.
In Australian economic news, the ABS will today release its business indicators for March.
Companies: On Friday shares in Westpac (ASX:WBC) were down 0.45 per cent at $22.15. The bank’s global head of fixed income strategy, Russell Jones, told the ABC’s Inside Business program yesterday that he thinks outright country defaults are a very likely reality in the European debt crisis. Meanwhile, the bank’s stance on the home loan competition with the other big four has seen it reduce the amount required for a deposit from 10 per cent of the total, to 5 per cent. It makes the bank the second biggest lender in the country. In the six months to March 31, Westpac (ASX:WBC) reported a net profit of $3.9 billion.
At the end of last week shares in Mesoblast Limited (ASX:MSB) were down 2.08 per cent at $7.99. The stem-cell specialist company, which was one of the best performers on the ASX last year, is the next in a long line to publicy admit the strong aussie dollar may force it to set up manufacturing operations overseas. The company’s chief executive told the Australian that the potential move to Singapore and Malaysia is being pushed by a lack of support from the Australian Federal government. For the six months to December 31 2010, Mesoblast Limited (ASX:MSB) reported a net profit of $93.1 million.
Ex-dividends: five companies are going ex-dividend today. They are Countplus (ASX:CUP) with a fully franked dividend of $0.04; Infratil (ASX:IFZ) with an unfranked dividend of $0.3.24; Ruralco Holdings (ASX:RHL) with a fully franked dividend of $0.09; TFS Corporation (ASX:TFC) with a fully franked dividend of $0.01; and Technology One (ASX:TNE) with a fully franked dividend of $0.01.
To commodities: Gold is up $13.50 to $US1,536 an ounce for the June contract on Comex, silver is up $2.99 to $37.86 for July and copper is up $0.08 at $4.19 a pound. Oil is up $0.36 at $100.59 a barrel for July light crude in New York.
