The Australian sharemarket is set to open flat, the United States took a break for Thanksgiving and European markets ended mostly lower.
European economic news
The German Chancellor has stood by her refusal to widen the European Central Bank’s role. Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy met for the first time with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti.
Meanwhile, Fitch ratings agency cut the credit standing of Portugal by one notch to BB+, junk bond status.
The figures
European stocks closed lower: London’s FTSE was down 12 points, Paris fell less than a point and Frankfurt lost 30 points.
To Asian markets, stocks finished mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 71 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei fell 150 points and China’s Shanghai Composite rose 2 points.
The Australian share market closed lower on Thursday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 7 points to close at 4,044. On the futures market the SPI is currently 4 points higher.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 8:40AM is buying 97.25 US cents, 62.79 Pence Sterling, 75.00 Yen and 72.9 Euro cents.
Company news
Yesterday shares in ASX Limited (ASX:ASX) closed 0.61 per cent higher at $29.49. The October 27 technology crash of the Australian Securities Exchange was caused by a sequence of network and software failures. That’s according to a report by the Australian Financial Review, quoting the ASX’s chief technology executive. An initial technical glitch, which would have been easily fixable, set in train a series of events that led to the crash, closing the market for several hours. For the year ended June 30, 2011, ASX reported a net profit of $352 million.
Yesterday shares in iiNet Limited (ASX:IIN) closed 1.57 per cent higher at $2.59. The WA internet service provider is looking to expand further into the local market, having recently acquired Canberra’s TransACT. That’s according to Business Spectator. The chief executive Michael Malone says scale will be a significant factor in the future and the company is looking to grow its fixed line broadband market share to up to 20 per cent. In the 12 months to June 30, 2011 iiNet reported a net profit of $33 million.
Ex-dividends
There’s one company going ex-dividend today it’s RHG with a $0.06 fully franked dividend.
Commodities
Gold is down $5.00 to $US1,696 an ounce for the December contract on Comex. Silver has fallen $1.48 to $31.88. Copper has dropped by $0.06 at $3.28 a pound. Oil is down $1.84 at $96.17 a barrel for December light crude in New York.
