The Australian sharemarket is expected to open in the red this morning following weak US leads, investors pulled out of risky assets overnight due to ongoing European debt concerns.
US economic news
First time jobless claims dropped to a seven month low, falling by 5,000 to 388,000 last week.
And housing starts decreased 0.3 per cent to a 628,000 annual rate in October, according to the Commerce Department.
Figures
On Thursday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 135 points to 11,771, the S&P500 fell 21 points to close at 1,216 and the Nasdaq fell 52 points to close at 2,588.
European stocks closed lower: London’s FTSE was down 86 points, Paris fell 55 and Frankfurt lost 63 points.
To Asian markets, stocks finished mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slumped 143 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei gained 16 points and China’s Shanghai Composite dropped 4.
The Australian share market closed higher on Thursday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 11 points to close at 4,258. On the futures market the SPI is currently 51 points lower.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 8:25AM has fallen below parity and is buying 99.99 US cents, 63.46 Pence Sterling, 76.96 Yen and 74.28 Euro cents.
Company news
Yesterday shares in Rio Tinto Limited (ASX:RIO), (NYSE:RIO) closed 0.62 per cent higher at $68.07. Rio Tinto has raised its offer for Hathor Exploration to $C4.70. The new offer values Hathor at $C654 million. The move comes just days after Canadian uranium miner Cameco raised its bid to $C4.50. Hathor’s board has unanimously recommended shareholders accept the offer. In the first half of the 2011 calendar year Rio Tinto booked a net profit of $7.5 billion.
Yesterday shares in Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX:ANZ) closed 0.54 per cent higher at $20.58. The bank’s chief executive Mike Smith has told the Australian Financial Review he believes China will move sooner rather than later towards freeing up interest rates and currencies. Mr Smith downplayed fears of a hard landing in China. ANZ has ambitions to become a super regional bank positioned to exploit the fast growth in Asia. ANZ reported a full year net profit of $5.4 billion.
Ex-dividends
There aren’t any companies going ex-dividend today, but CSR, DuluxGroup, Newcrest Mining and SP Ausnet are amongst those coming up on Monday.
Commodities
Gold is down $54.10 to $US1,720 an ounce for the December contract on Comex. Silver has fallen $2.325 to $31.50. Copper has dropped by just over $0.10 at $3.38 a pound. Oil is down $3.77 at $98.82 a barrel for December light crude in New York.
