The Australian share market looks to lift into a new week after Wall Street rose on hopes for stimulus action from the US Federal Reserve the European Central Bank. With no major local economic news scheduled for release today eyes will again be on earnings reports as the reporting season wraps up.
Figures
Wall Street ended last week lower but rose on Friday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 101 points to close at 13,158, the S&P500 gained 9 points to close at 1,411 and the Nasdaq gained 16 points to close at 3,070.
European markets closed mixed at the end of last week: London’s FTSE finished flat, Paris added 0.65 points and Frankfurt added 22 points.
Asian markets closed lower on Friday: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 252 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei lost 107 and China’s Shanghai Composite lost 21 points.
The Australian share market snapped a five week winning streak on Friday to close lower for the day and week. The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed fell 35 points on Friday, erasing this week’s gains to end the week 21 points down at 4,349. On the futures market the SPI is 25 points higher.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 8:20AM was buying $US1.042 cents, 65.93 Pence Sterling, 82.04 Yen and 83.34 Euro cents.
Company news Reports have emerged citing speculation Whitehaven Coal’s
(ASX:WHC) 21.4 per cent shareholder Nathan Tinkler could be looking at selling down his stake due to his personal debt levels after last week walking away from a $5.2 billion takeover bid of the company. The coal producer’s shares sank after the announcement on Friday despite also reporting it increased its net profit by fivefold, generating $62 million in fiscal 2012. Shares in Whitehaven Coal sank 11.21 per cent on Friday to finish the week at $3.09.
Investa Office Fund
(ASX:IOF) has inked contracts to buy an office building in Perth’s CBD for $82.4 million. The real estate investment company says the purchase will improve its portfolio diversification and enable it to capture short term rental growth potential. Shares in Investa Office Fund closed 1.74 per cent lower before the announcement was made on Friday to finish the week at $2.83.
Commodities
Gold is up $29.50 to $US1,673 an ounce for the December contract on Comex.
Silver is up $0.16 to $30.62 for September.
Copper is down $0.01 at $3.48 a pound.
Oil is down $0.12 at $US96.15 a barrel for October light crude in New York.
Ex-dividends
