The Australian market is poised for lower start to the last day of a very volatile month. Overnight US stocks ended a rough day on positive ground. Sentiment on Wall Street took a hit with dissapointing economic news in early trade, but was given a boost by minutes from the Federal Reserve suggesting some members are in favour of more economic stimulus.
US economic news
House prices in America recovered slightly in the second quarter of this year, but are still down from the year before. The Case-Shiller 20-city home price index has shown prices increased 3.6 per cent in the second quarter compared to the quarter before, but are down 5.9 per cent when compared to the year before.
A report on consumer confidence has shown that is has slumped to a two year low. The Conference Board’s index on consumer confidence fell to 44.5 in August from 59.2 the month before.
Figures
On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 21 points to close at 11,560. The S&P500 added 3 points to close at 1,213. The NASDAQ lifted 14 points to close at 2,576.
European stocks closed mixed: London’s FTSE jumped 139 points, Paris rose 6 and Frankfurt was down 26.
To Asian markets, stocks were mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 339, Tokyo Nikkei was up 103 and China’s Shanghai Composite was down 10 points.
The Australian share market closed flat on Tuesday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index added 6 points to close at 4,269. On the futures market the SPI is 14 points weaker.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 7:30AM was buying $1.0684 US cents, 65.54 Pence Sterling, 81.98 Yen and 73.98 Euro cents.
Company news
Yesterday shares in Woolworths Limited (ASX:WOW) fell 1.02 per cent to close at $25.15. Supermarket giants Woolies and Wesfarmers Limited (ASX:WES) are heating up the competition on the hardware floor. The head of Woolies new hardware chain, Masters, says some suppliers have even refused to sell their products to the new chain, indicating they don’t want to jeopardise their relationship with market leader, Wesfarmers owned Bunnings. Australia’s first Masters store will tomorrow open to the public in the Melbourne suburb of Braybrook and 95 new stores are expected to open in the next five years. Last week Woolworths posted a 5 per cent increase in its full year net profit, coming in at $2.1 billion.
On Tuesday shares in ANZ Banking Group (ASX:ANZ) eased 0.15 per cent, closing at $20.18. ANZ says strong investor demand has pushed it to raise its convertible preference share offer from $750 million to $1.25 billion. The new style hybrid capital offer is geared towards strengthening the bank’s capital position ahead of the implementation of new global bank rules. In the first half of its 2011 financial year ANZ recorded a net profit of $2.7 billion.
Ex-dividends
Eleven companies are going ex-dividend today: Aristocrat Leisure, Carlton Investments, Caltex, GPT Group, Infomedia, Milton Corporation, Medical Developments International, Perpetual, Slater & Gordon, Spark Infrastructure, Spotless Group.
Commodities
Gold is up $38.20 to $US1,829 an ounce for the December contract on Comex. Silver is up $0.85 cents to $41.40 for September. Copper is up 3 cents at $4.12 a pound. Oil is up $1.63 at $88.90 a barrel for October light crude in New York.
