The Australian share market is set to start the first day of the week higher after Wall Street was lifted by an upbeat monthly jobs report.
US economic newsThe Labor Department has reported America’s economy gained more jobs than expected, adding 163,000 jobs last month, up from adding 64,000 jobs the month before. The US unemployment rate lifted to 8.3 per cent in July from 8.2 per cent the month before.
FiguresWall Street closed higher on Friday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 217 points to close at 13,096, the S&P500 added 26 points to close at 1,391 and the Nasdaq added 58 points to close at 2,968.
European markets also closed higher: London’s FTSE added 125 points, Paris added 142 points and Frankfurt added 260 points.
Asian markets closed mixed on Friday: Hong Kong’s HangSeng lost 24 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei lost 98 and China’s Shanghai Composite added 22 points.
The Australian share market closed down more than 1 per cent on Friday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 48 points to finish at 4,221. But, on the futures market the SPI is now 58 points stronger.
CurrenciesThe Australian Dollar at 7:15AM was buying $US1.057 cents, 67.67 Pence Sterling, 83.16 Yen and 85.32 Euro cents.
Company newsDays after revealing a profit drop, Navitas Limited
(ASX:NVT) CEO Rod Jones has told ABC the market has bottomed out in terms of student numbers. The education services provider last week reported a 5 per cent fall in its annual net profit, hit by a drop in student numbers. Mr Jones told ABC over the weekend the turnaround of returning students to Australia is now occurring and he expects growth to continue. Shares in Navitas fell 1.82 per cent on Friday, ending at $3.78.
Auckland International Airport Limited
(ASX:AIA) says it has secured further growth from Asia. The company expects newly announced China Airline flights to deliver more than $50 million in tourism and trade value. The new services are expected to drive Auckland International Airport’s targeted growth into Asia. Shares in Auckland International Airport closed flat on Friday at $1.925.
CommoditiesGold is up $18.60 to $US1,609 an ounce for the August contract on Comex. Silver is up $0.35 to $27.80 for September. Copper is up $0.057 at $3.37 a pound. Oil is up $4.27 at US$91.40 a barrel for September light crude in New York.
