The Australian share market is tipped to rise after receiving strong offshore leads. Wall Street rallied after a positive report on consumer spending and relief that Hurricane Irene caused less damage than feared. Overseas stocks were also encouraged on news of a deal to merge two large Greek banks.
US economic news
The Commerce Department reported that Americans spent more last month. Personal spending increased 0.8 per cent in July, recovering from a fall the month before and coming in higher than expected.
The National Association of Realtors showed that pending home sales declined just less than expected in June. Sales dropped 1.3 per cent following an increase in sales the month before.
Figures
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lifted 255 points to close at 11,539. The S&P500 rose 33 points to close at 1,210. The NASDAQ added 82 points to close at 2,562.
European stocks started the week higher: London’s FTSE was closed for a public holiday, Paris finished 67 points higher and Frankfurt rose 133 points.
To Asian market, stocks were mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 282, Tokyo Nikkei was up 54 and China’s Shanghai Composite was down 36.
The Australian share market bounced 1.5 per cent on Monday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index advanced 63 points to close at 4,263. On the futures market the SPI is 58 points higher.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 7:35AM was buying $1.0658 US cents, 64.96 Pence Sterling, 81.92 Yen and 73.45 Euro cents.
Economic news
Due out today from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, building approvals data for July.
Company news
Yesterday shares in Atlas Iron Limited (ASX:AGO) gained 2.67 per cent, closing at $3.85. Atlas has moved a step closer to securing control of iron ore developer FerrAus Limited (ASX:FRS). In June Altas launched an all-scrip $240 million bid to combine its South East Pilbara assets into FerrAus. Atlas has now acquired a 39 per cent stake of its takeover target. This stake could rise to 52.2 per cent after a major FerrAus shareholder, China Railway Materials, indicated that it intendeds to the accept the offer as soon as possible. In the 2011 financial year Atlas Iron posted a maiden net profit of $168.6 million.
Auzex Resources Limited (ASX:AZX) jumped 16.67 per cent, closing at $0.455, that was after the mineral explorer said it had inked a deal with GGG Resources (ASX:GGB) to combine the Bullabulling gold project under a single corporate entity. Under the binding Heads of Agreement an all-scrip merger of equals will create the new entity to be known as Bullabulling Gold Limited. Bullabulling will become an exploration and development gold focussed company with expected market value of around $95 million, primarily listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. In the last half of 2010 Auzex Resources reported a net profit of $327,000.
Ex-dividends
Seven companies are going ex-dividend today: Bentley Capital, Corporate Travel Management, Customers, Emeco Holdings, iiNet, NIB Holdings, and, Saunders International.
Commodities
Gold is down $5.70 to $US1,791 an ounce for the December contract on Comex. Silver is down 41 cents to $40.55 for September. Copper is down $0.01 at $4.09 a pound. Oil is up $1.90 at $87.27 a barrel for October light crude in New York.
