The Australian share market looks to lift this morning, buoyed by positive leads from US and European markets. With no major local economic data scheduled for today the spotlight will again be on earnings as the reporting season continues.
Figures
Wall Street rose on Thursday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 85 points to close at 13,250, the S&P500 gained 10 points to close at 1,416 and the Nasdaq gained 31 points to close at 3,062.
European markets lifted on Thursday: London’s FTSE added 1 point, Paris added 31 point and Frankfurt added 50 points.
Asian markets ended mixed on Thursday: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 89 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei added 168 and China’s Shanghai Composite lost 7 points.
The Australian share market advanced more than 1 per cent on Thursday, finishing at session highs: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 49 points up to finish at 4,330. On the futures market the SPI is 24 points higher.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 7:15AM was buying $US1.051 cents, 66.8 Pence Sterling, 83.41 Yen and 85.07 Euro cents.
Company news Shares in Fairfax Media Limited
(ASX:FXJ) rose yesterday amid speculation the media company could be set to break up. According to the Australian the latest substantial Fairfax shareholder, Lazard Asset Management, is expected to back calls to break up the company which could in turn put Fairfax’s flagship mastheads in the control of Fairfax’s largest shareholder, Gina Rinehart. Fairfax Media is due to release its full year results next Thursday. Shares in Fairfax Media rose 1.83 per cent on Thursday to close at $0.555.
Shares in InvoCare Limited
(ASX:IVC) gained yesterday after the funerals operator posted a 40 per cent jump in its first half net profit, coming in at $20.3 million. The result was boosted by Invocare’s acquisition of a New Zealand based funeral operator business and strong returns from its Singapore business. A fully franked interim dividend of 15 cents per share has been declared. Shares in InvoCare gained 2.96 per cent on Thursday to close at $8.70.
Ex-dividends Korvest Limited
(ASX:KOV): 30 cent fully franked final dividend
Commodities
Gold is up $12.60 to $US1,619 an ounce for the December contract on Comex.
Silver is up $0.40 to $28.21 for September.
Copper is up $0.03 at $3.38 a pound.
Oil is up $1.27 at $US95.60 a barrel for September light crude in New York.
