Following a positive lead from Wall Street the Australian share market looks to open higher amid hopes that Europe will announce a bold plan to address its debt crisis. At home eyes will also be on a series of financial and production results, with no local economic news scheduled for today.
US economic news
New orders for manufactured durable goods dropped last month. The Census Bureau showed the figure for new orders shed 0.8 per cent, or $1.5 billion, in September to $US200.3 billion.
New homes sales increased more than expected last month. The Census Bureau reported that sales rose 5.7 per cent in September from the month before, but are still 0.9 per cent down from the same time a year before.
Figures
On Wednesday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 162 points to 11,869, the S&P500 added 13 points to close at 1,242 and the Nasdaq rose 12 points to close at 2,651.
European stocks closed mixed: London’s FTSE was up 28 points, Paris was down 5 and Frankfurt was down 31 points.
To Asian markets, stocks finished mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 98 points, Tokyo Nikkei was down 14 and China’s Shanghai Composite was up 18.
The Australian share market trimmed earlier losses on Wednesday to close 0.4 per cent higher: The S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 15 points to close at 4,243. On the futures market the SPI is currently 27 points higher.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 8:45AM was buying $US1.0392 cents, 65.11 Pence Sterling, 79.24 Yen and 74.79 Euro cents.
Company news
Yesterday shares in all the big four banks gained after lower than expected inflation figures fuelled hopes for an interest rate cut next week.
Taking a closer look at National Australia Bank Limited (ASX:NAB), shares rose 1.13 per cent on Wednesday finishing at $24.95. The NAB has this morning posted a 23.6 per cent jump in its annual profit, coming in at a record $5.22 billion, $1 billion more than the year before. In the 12 months to the end of September the bank’s preferred measure of profitability, cash earnings, rose 19.2 per cent to $5.5 billion. The bank has attributed the result to revenue momentum in Australian business banking and personal banking and an improved performance from specialised group assets. A final dividend of 88 cents has been declared, bringing the full year payout to $1.72 cents. In the first half of the 2011 financial year National Australia Bank posted a net profit of $2.4 billion.
Shares in ANZ Banking Group (ASX:ANZ) firmed 0.19 per cent yesterday, closing at $21.59. ANZ’s chief, Mike Smith, has criticised new rules for banks aimed at boosting a bank’s liquidity. Mr Smith says he is concerned because there is a real possibility overly conservative rules with an aggressive implementation timetable are likely to have a choking effect on global recovery. ANZ recorded a net profit of $2.7 billion in the half year to March 31 this year.
Ex-dividends
Three companies are going ex-dividend today: Clover Corporation, FFI Holdings and Freedom Nutritional Products.
Commodities
Gold is up $23.10 to $US1,723 an ounce for the December contract on Comex.
Silver is up $0.26 cents to $33.31.
Copper is up $0.07 at $3.49 a pound.
Oil is flat at $93.17 a barrel for November light crude in New York.
