The Australian share market looks set to open lower after all offshore markets fell overnight, as tensions grew over Spain’s debt crisis.
US economic news
The Chicago Federal National Activity Index which is designed to gauge overall economic activity and inflationary pressure, has shown a rise to minus 0.15 in June compared to May’s revised minus 0.48. A reading of zero or less indicates national economic growth.
Figures
Wall Street closed lower yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 101 points to close at 12,721, the S&P500 lost 12 points to close at 1,351 and the Nasdaq lost 35 points to close at 2,890.
European markets closed lower : London’s FTSE lost 118 points, Paris lost 92 and Frankfurt lost 211 points.
Asian markets closed lower : Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 587 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei lost 162 and China’s Shanghai Composite shed 27 points.
The Australian share market closed lower yesterday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 70 points down to finish at 4,129 On the futures market the SPI is 14 points lower.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 7:15AM was buying $US1.026, 66.17 Pence Sterling, 80.44 Yen and 84.67 Euro cents.
Company news The world's third-largest gold miner AngloGold Ashanti Limited
(ASX:AGG) has signed a $US1 billion five-year unsecured revolving credit facility, that will mature in 2017. Separately, AngloGold downgraded its second quarter earnings by as much as 30 per cent due to lower gold prices. The company expects its headline earnings for the quarter to be between $240 and $255 million. AngloGold also announced a 9 per cent increase in its second quarter gold production, compared to the first quarter. The production results which have come in above its market guidance was attributed to strong operating performances from its continental Africa and the Americas regions. Shares in AngloGold Ashanti closed 0.17 per cent up yesterday at $6.04.
Hutchison Telecommunications Limited
(ASX:HTA) has reported a $131.3 million loss for its half-year results. The telecommunications company says its revenue share of joint venture partner Vodafine Hutchison Australia (VHA) has dropped by 9 per cent. VHA's customer base also declined by 178,000. Shares in Hutchison Telecommunications closed 3.12 per cent up yesterday at $0.033.
Commodities
Gold is down $5.40 to $US1,577 an ounce for the August contract on Comex.
Silver is down $0.26 to $27.00 for September.
Copper is down $0.07 at $3.38 a pound.
Oil is down $3.69 at US$88.15 a barrel for August light crude in New York.
