A positive start is expected for the Australian sharemarket this morning with strong offshore leads. Wall Street rebounded overnight thanks to a better than expected reading on retail sales.
US economic news
Retail sales dropped by 0.2 per cent in May – less than predicted, and the Producer Price Index rose 0.2%.
China economic news
The central bank lifted the reserve requirement ratio 0.5 percentage points.
Figures
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 123 points, closing at 12,076, the S&P500 rose 16 points to close at 1,288 and the NASDAQ is up 39 points to close at 2,679.
European stocks closed higher yesterday: London’s FTSE up 30 points, Paris up 57 points and Frankfurt was up 120 points.
Asian markets were mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 12 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei was up 100 and China’s Shanghai composite was up 30.
The Australian share market finished higher on Tuesday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 23 points to close at 4,585. While on the futures market the SPI is up 13 points.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 7:40AM was buying $1.0688 US cents, 65.29 Pence Sterling, 86.04 Yen and 73.98 Euro cents.
Australian economic news
The Australian Bureau of Statistics will release the figures on dwelling unit commencements for March, and the Westpac/Melbourne Institute Survey of Consumer Sentiment for June will also be out today. The Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens is due to give a speech in Brisbane on “Economic conditions and prospects”.
Company news
Shares in QBE Insurance Group Ltd (ASX:QBE) closed 0.58 per cent higher at $17.28, yesterday. The insurer expects first-half profit to rise by as much as 60 per cent, after its investment performance improved significantly from the previous year, but warned its first-half insurance profit margin will be lower than the year prior due to an unprecedented amount of claims. Individual risk and catastrophe claims are estimated to be $US830 million to the end of May. The large catastrophe claims cited for the financial year to date include the Queensland storms, Cyclone Yasi, Victorian storms, Christchurch earthquake, Japanese earthquake and eight major tornados in the US. For the year ended December 31, 2010, QBE Insurance reported a net profit of $1.3 billion.
Yesterday shares in Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (ASX:SGT) closed 1.26 per cent weaker at $2.36. SingTel’s subsidiary Optus is on the brink of a deal with NBN Co worth up to $1 billion after tax, according to the Australian Financial Review. The deal will see Optus shut down its cable network and transfer customers to the national broadband network. For the financial year ended March 31, 2011, SingTel posted a profit of $2.9 billion.
Commodities
Gold is up $8.80 to $US1,524 an ounce for the August contract on Comex, silver is up $0.67 to $35.41 for July and copper is up $0.12 at $4.16 a pound. Oil is up $2.07 at $99.37 a barrel for July light crude in New York.
