The Australian share market is tipped to rise at the start of the week after the Dow Jones jumped on good jobs figures.
US
The unemployment rate was driven down for a fifth straight month in January to 8.3 per cent. That’s the lowest point in nearly three years and points to a resurgent job market. The Labor Department’s figures show employers added an average of 201,000 jobs a month in the past three months: 50,000 more than the economy averaged in each month last year.
Figures
On Friday Wall Street jumped: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 157 points to close at 12,862, the S&P500 gained 19 points to close at 1,345 and the Nasdaq gained 46 points to close at 2,906.
European markets also rose on Friday: London’s FTSE was up 105 points, Paris was up 51 points and Frankfurt was up 111 points.
Asian markets closed mixed on the last day of the week: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 18 points, Tokyo Nikkei was down 45 and China’s Shanghai Composite was up 18 points.
The Australian share market inched lower for its first week of losses for the year on Friday, The S&P/ASX 200 Index lost 17 points to finish at 4,251. On the futures market the SPI is now 56 points higher.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 8:40am was buying $US1.07.6 cents, 68.07 Pence Sterling, 82.51 Yen and 82.04 Euro cents.
Economic news
Today we’ve got the ANZ job advertisement figures for January due out; as well as the ABS retail trade and sales figures for December; and the Melbourne Institute inflation gauge from TD Securities for January.
Company news
Downer EDI Limited (ASX:DOW) was flat at $3.54 on Friday. It is to get a $175 million boost from the NSW government to help itsdebt-ridden Reliance Rail train building project. Downer has to build and deliver one train set every 10 business days to meet its target of 78 trains by June 2014.
In the 2011 financial year Downer EDI posted a net loss of $27.7 million.
Orica Limited (ASX:ORI) shares were down 1.62 per cent on Friday to $24.25. It’s set to restart its Koorangang Island ammonia plant tomorrow after it has been shut for almost six months because of the release of a toxic pollutant. It has also undergone six weeks of scheduled maintenance. Orica says thr shutdown cost about $4 million a week. Orica posted a profit of $663 million in the 2011 financial year.
Commodities
Gold is down $14.30 to $US1,740 an ounce for the February contract on Comex. Silver is down 42.6 cents to $33.75 for March. Copper is up 11.7 cents at $3.90 a pound. Oil is up $1.48 at $97.84 a barrel for February light crude in New York.
