The Australian share looks poised for a soft start to the week after notching up its third straight week of gains. Wall Street closed mixed on Friday, amid reporting season, after gaining more than 2 per cent over the week.
US economic news
Existing home sales in America improved at the end of last year for the third straight month. The National Association of Realtors has reported existing home sales increased 5 per cent in December from the month before and 3.6 per cent from the year before. The rise was almost double the amount expected.
Figures
Wall Street finished mixed at the end of last week: The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 97 points to close at 12,720, the S&P500 added almost 1 point to close at 1,315 and the Nasdaq lost 2 points to close at 2,787.
European markets finished lower on Friday: London’s FTSE was down 13 points, Paris was down 7 points and Frankfurt was down 12 points.
Asian markets rose on Friday: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 167 points, Tokyo Nikkei was up 127 and China’s Shanghai Composite was up 23 points.
The Australian share market rose 0.6 per cent on Friday, adding 44 points over the week. For the day The S&P/ASX 200 Index added 25 points to finish at 4,240 on Friday. On the futures market the SPI is now 6 points weaker.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 8:40AM was buying $US1.0481 cents, 67.45 Pence Sterling, 80.66 Yen and 81.42 Euro cents.
Economic news due out today
From the Australian Bureau of Statistics: Producer price indexes for the December quarter 2011
Company news
Shares in Singapore Telecommunications Limited (ASX:SGT) closed 0.43 per cent lower on Friday at $2.29. SingTel’s Australian arm Optus has inked a wholesale broadband agreement with the $36 billion National Broadband Network. Optus joins around 25 other retail internet suppliers who have approved the terms, enabling them to sign up new customers for the network. Telstra is now the only telco remaining to sign a wholesale broadband agreement. The company is understood to still be in negotiations and awaiting the finalisation of its structural separation. SingTel reported a net profit of $1.4 billion in the six months to the end of September 2011.
Shares in Macquarie Group Limited (ASX:MQG) rose 3.2 per cent at the end of last week to finish at $24.50. Weaker fourth quarter earnings from global investment banks have fuelled doubts Australia’s largest investment bank will meet its full year guidance. UBS analyst Jonathan Mott has told The Australian Macquarie’s 2012 earnings per share are likely to fall 12 per cent from the year before. Mr Mott says a quick bounce back to previous levels looks unlikely for Macquarie and the bank has significant work to do on its headcount and cost base. Macquarie Group reported an interim net profit of $308 million in the six months to the end of September 2011.
Ex-dividends
Three companies are going ex-dividend: Ironbark Capital Limited (ASX:IBC) with an $0.08 fully franked dividend, Newhaven Hotels Limited (ASX:NHH) with a $0.02 fully franked dividend and Viterra (ASX:VTA) with a $0.0607 fully franked dividend.
Commodities
Gold is up $4.50 to $US1,664 an ounce for the February contract on Comex.
Silver is up $2.48 to $31.68 for March.
Copper is down $0.05 at $3.74 a pound.
Oil is down $2.21 at $98.33 a barrel for February light crude in New York.
