Soft offshore leads have positioned the Australian share market for a steady start to the day. US markets closed mixed as investors absorbed a weak jobs report with better than expected earnings results. European markets also closed mixed as investors digested news the eurozone unemployment rate peaked at a record 10.9 per cent in March.
US economic news
Ahead of the US government’s key monthly jobs report due Friday, payroll processor ADP has shown America’s private-sector job growth slowed last month. ADP reports the private sector added 119,000 jobs in April, less than the 170,000 jobs expected and under the 201,000 jobs added the month before.
Figures
Wall Street closed mixed on Wednesday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 11 points to close at 13,269, the S&P500 lost 4 points to close at 1,402 and the Nasdaq added 9 points to close at 3,060.
European markets also finished mixed on Wednesday: London’s FTSE lost 54 points, Paris added 14 points and Frankfurt lost 50 points.
Asian markets closed higher yesterday: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 215 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei added 29 and China’s Shanghai Composite added 42 points.
The Australian share closed just 0.1 per cent higher on Wednesday. Yesterday the S&P/ASX 200 index added 6 points, to finish at 4,436. On the futures market the SPI is now 3 points higher.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 7:15AM was buying $US1.0335 cents, 63.83 Pence Sterling, 82.85 Yen and 78.58 Euro cents.
Economic news due out today
Australian Industry Group and Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX:CBA): Performance of services index for April
Housing Industry Association: Quarterly trades report.
Stocks to watch
Westpac Banking Corporation (ASX:WBC) will today release its first half results with analysts forecasting the bank will deliver a net cash profit of $3.297 billion for the six months to the end of March. Rival bank ANZ Banking Group (ASX:ANZ) posted a first half cash profit of $2.97 billion yesterday, but the results disappointed the market with all the Big Four banks closing in the red. Shares in Westpac closed 0.61 per cent lower on Wednesday at $22.69.
Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX:WPL) has affirmed its commitment to exploring the viability of processing gas from its Browse liquefied natural gas project through a new gas hub at James Price Point in Western Australia. The oil and gas company’s CEO and Managing Director Peter Coleman says Woodside has a commitment to take James Price Point through to a certain decision point, expected around the end of this year or early next year. The comments came one day after Woodside said it would sell a 15 per cent stake in Browse for $US2 billion to a Japanese consortium who is understood to favour using existing infrastructure. Shares in Woodside Petroleum closed 1.27 per cent higher on Wednesday at $36.66.
Ex-dividends tomorrow
Australian Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (ASX:API)
Commodities
Gold is down $8.70 to $US1,653 an ounce for the June contract on Comex.
Silver is down $0.28 to $30.65 for July.
Copper is down $0.056 at $3.79 a pound.
Oil is down $0.94 at $105.22 a barrel for June light crude in New York.
