The Australian sharemarket is set to open weaker, with negative offshore leads pulling the market lower. Investors are bracing for a second consecutive calendar year of negative returns.
The figures
Wall Street closed lower on Wednesday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 140 points to close at 12,151, the S&P500 fell 16 points to close at 1,250 and the Nasdaq retreated 35 points to close at 2,590.
European markets finished lower Wednesday: London’s FTSE was down 5 points, Paris fell 32 and Frankfurt lost 118 points.
Asian markets finished mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 111 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei was down 17 and China’s Shanghai Composite gained 4 points.
The Australian share market ended lower yesterday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 52 points to close at 4,089. On the futures market the SPI is currently 33 points lower.
Turning to currencies and the Australian Dollar at 8:30AM was buying $US1.0093, 65.33 Pence Sterling, 78.67 Yen and 78.02 Euro cents.
Company news
Fortis Mining Ltd (ASX:FMJ) shares have been suspended since November 11. The founders of Fortis have lost out in a boardroom reshuffle. The chief executive and co-founder Jitto Arulampalam resigned yesterday, remaining as non-executive director of the company. Founder and former chief executive Frank Cannavo has also resigned as non-executive director. Terence Wong has been promoted to managing director. Marco Marcou has taken on the role of executive director. Hong Kong investor Madame Cheung Kwan, who owns almost 20 per cent of the company, remains as chairman. In the 2011 financial year Fortis recorded a net loss of $1 million.
Atlas Iron Limited (ASX:AGO) shares dipped 2.12 per cent yesterday, closing at $2.77. Atlas will sell its magnetite project in Western Australia to Cliffs Natural Resources for $18 million, with the full amount payable when the deal is completed on or before the end of January. Atlas may receive additional payments from Cliffs if the resource grows beyond a certain level. In the 2011 financial year Atlas Iron posted a net profit of $169 million.
Ex-dividends
There’s one company going ex-dividend today. It is Dicker Data with a $0.93 fully franked dividend.
Commodities
The price of gold is down $31.40 to $US1,564 an ounce for the February contract on Comex. Silver is down $1.50 to $27.23 for March. Copper is down $0.04 at $3.37 a pound. Oil has fallen $1.98 at $99.36 a barrel for February light crude in New York.
