Following mixed leads the Australian share market looks set to open higher, with Wall Street's major indicies all rising more than 2 per cent for the week.
Figures
Wall Street closed mixed on Friday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 20 points to close at 13,233, the S&P500 gained 2 points to close at 1,404 and the Nasdaq lost 1 point to close at 3,055.
European markets closed up: London’s FTSE rose 25 points, Paris gained 15 points and Frankfurt is up 13 points.
Asian markets closed mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 36 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei added 7 points and China’s Shanghai Composite added 31 points.
The Australian share market closed lower on Friday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 2 points down to finish at 4,276. On the futures market the SPI is 30 points up.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 8:30AM was buying $US1.0587 cents, 66.84 Pence Sterling, 88.33 Yen and 80.36 Euro cents.
Company news
Shares in Rio Tinto Limited (ASX:RIO) closed 0.29 per cent up on Friday at $65.12. Rio Tinto released its annual report at the end of last week. The global miner has affirmed its confidence in China’s growth but has flagged the increasing capital intensity of growth projects. Rio Tinto reported a full year net profit of $6.7 billion in fiscal 2011.
Shares in Allied Healthcare Group Limited (ASX:AHZ) closed 16.67 per cent down on Friday at $0.03. That was after the health care company announced it will undertake a $6.4 million capital raising. Allied Healthcare plans to use the funds in developing vaccines. Allied Healthcare reported a $1.9 million net loss for the first half of 2012 financial year.
Commodities
Gold is down $10.00 to $US1,655 an ounce for the April contract on Comex.
Silver is down $0.12 to $32.60 for May.
Copper is flat at $3.88 a pound.
Oil is up $1.95 at $107.00 a barrel for April light crude in New York.
