Following soft leads, the Australian share market looks set to start the week lower.
Figures
Wall Street closed lower on Friday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 3 points to close at 12,978, the S&P500 lost 4 points to close at 1,370 and the Nasdaq lost 13 points to close at 2,976.
European markets finished mixed on Friday: London’s FTSE lost 20 points, Paris added 1 point and Frankfurt lost 20 points.
Asian markets finished higher on Friday: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 174 points, Tokyo's Nikkei added 70 points and China’s Shanghai Composite added 35 points.
The Australian share market closed higher on Friday but lower for the week: The S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 18 points to finish at 4,273. On the futures market the SPI is now 16 points lower.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 8:40AM was buying $US1.0742 cents, 67.83 Pence Sterling, 87.89 Yen and 81.44 Euro cents.
Economic news due out today
Australian Bureau of Statistics: Business indicators for December quarter 2011
ANZ: Job advertisements series for February 2012
Australian Industry Group and Commonwealth Bank: Australian Performance of Services Index for February 2012
TD Securities-Melbourne Institute: Inflation gauge for January 2012
Company news
Shares in Mermaid Marine Australia Limited (ASX:MRM) fell 1.26 per cent on Friday closing at $3.13. Mermaid Marine Australia has responded to claims arising from Hurricane Nate stating that no criminal charges have been filed against anyone in relation to the incident. The marine services provider released the statement at the end of last week in response to claims that one of its vessel’s deserted workers during a hurricane. Mermaid Marine Australia reported a net profit of $27.6 million for the first half of its 2012 financial year.
Shares in Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX:FMG) rose 2.35 per cent on Friday to close at $5.66 . Iron ore miner Fortescue Metals has today launched newspaper ads criticising comments made by Treasurer Wayne Swan last week. Mr Swan said Australia’s success has never been in more jeopardy because of the rising power of vested interests, listing Fortescue’s founder Andrew Forrest among the examples. Fortescue Metals Group reported a net profit of $788 million for the first half of its 2012 financial year.
Commodities
Gold is down $10.50 to $1,709 US dollars an ounce for the April contract on Comex.
Silver is down $1.13 to $34.52 for March.
Copper is down $0.03 at $3.91 a pound.
Oil is down $2.14 at $106.70 a barrel for March light crude in New York.
