The Australian share market looks set to open lower after global markets fell, following soft manufacturing reports from China and Europe.
China economic news
An initial gauge on Chinese manufacturing data has fallen to a four month low. The HSBC preliminary purchasing managers' index dropped to 48.1 in March, in comparison to a final read of 49.6 the month before. A read below 50 indicates contraction.
US economic news
The Labor Department reported first-time claims for unemployment benefits last week declined to 348,000, the lowest level in four years.
Figures
Wall Street closed down yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 78 points to close at 13,046, the S&P500 lost 10 points to close at 1,393 and the Nasdaq lost 12 points to close at 3,063.
European markets closed down: London’s FTSE lost 46 points, Paris lost 55 and Frankfurt lost 90 points.
Asian markets closed mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 45 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei added 41 and China’s Shanghai Composite shed 2 points.
The Australian share market closed higher yesterday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 19 points up to finish at 4,274. On the futures market the SPI is 43 points down.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 8:45AM was buying $US1.04 cents, 65.74 Pence Sterling, 85.86 Yen and 78.79 Euro cents.
Company news
Shares in Leighton Holdings Limited (ASX:LEI) closed 0.73 per cent down yesterday at $23.03. Leighton has announced it will replace KPMG as its company’s auditor, and will be nominating a replacement in its general meeting in May. The Leighton account is said to be worth $3.5 million to KPMG. Leighton posted a net profit of $345 million for the six months to the end of December 2011.
Shares in Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX:CBA) closed 0.8 per cent up yesterday at $49.02. The Commonwealth Bank is among the four big banks that have cut their term deposit rates according to a study carried out for The Australian. Three-month term deposit rates were cut by 20 basis points since the beginning of this year and 40 basis points to longer-term savings. The change is said to be in response to a softening mortgage market. The CBA has reportedly 10 times more depositors than mortgage customers. In the first half of the 2012 financial year CBA reported a net profit of $3.6 billion.
Ex-dividends
Four companies are going ex-dividend today and they are:
Carsales.com Limited (ASX:CRZ)
G8 Education Limited (ASX:GEM)
SFG Australia Limited (ASX:SFW)
Southern Cross Media Group (ASX:SXL)
Commodities
Gold is down $7.80 to $US1,642.50 an ounce for the April contract on Comex.
Silver is down $0.09 to $31.34 for May.
Copper is down $0.08 at $3.77 a pound.
Oil is down $1.92 at $105.35 a barrel for April light crude in New York.
