The Australian stock market is expected to open flat, despite receiving mostly positive leads from weekend offshore trading, it follows a flat close on Friday.
Figures
On Friday the Dow Jones Industrial Average, closed 43 points higher at 12,004, S&P500 gained 4 points to close at 1,272 and the NASDAQ lost 7 points to close at 2,616.
European stocks ended the week higher. London was up 16, Paris gained 31 points and Frankfurt was 54 points higher.
To Asian markets and stocks were lower: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 258, Tokyo’s Nikkei was down 60 and China’s Shanghai Composite fell 21 points.
On Friday the Australian share market ended the week flat. The S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 6 points to close at 4,485. While on the futures market the SPI is currently up 3 points.
Currencies
Turning to currencies and the Australian Dollar at 7.30AM was buying $1.0614 US cents, 65.61 Pence Sterling, 85.12 Yen and 74.3 Euro cents.
Australian economic news
The Commonwealth Bank business sales indicator is due for release.
Company news
On Friday shares in BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) were down 0.12 per cent at $41.95. BHP is in last minute negotiations to avoid further industrial action at major export coal mines in Queensland. Mining unions completed a week-long series of stop-work meetings at six mines in the Bowen Basin over the weekend. They head back into talks with management today and tomorrow. The union says members have given strong indications they want to see progress on enterprise agreements. BHP has offered annual pay increases of 5 per cent at the six mines. In the first six months of its 2011 financial year BHP Billiton generated a net profit of $10.5 billion.
At the end of last week shares in Austal Ltd (ASX:ASB) were up 0.37 per cent at $2.71. Austal has come under fire with claims a vessel built for the US Navy has suffered “aggressive corrosion” according to a report by Fairfax Media and Bloomberg. The corrosion is said to have occurred less than two years after being commissioned. The aluminium warship was the first of a possible ten ships Austal had been asked to build for the US Navy. In the first half of its 2011 financial year, Austal reported a net profit of $14 million.
Ex-dividends
There are 4 companies going ex-dividend today. They are Coventry Group Ltd with a fully franked dividend of $0.05, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corporation Ltd with an unfranked dividend of $0.0533, HGL Ltd with a fully franked dividend of $0.06 and Metcash Ltd with a fully franked dividend of $0.16.
Commodities
Gold is up $5.40 to $US1,539 an ounce for the August contract on Comex, silver is down $2.07 to $35.75 for July and copper is down $0.03 at $4.10 a pound. Oil is down $1.94 at $93.01 a barrel for July light crude in New York.
