After gaining 1.1 per cent in August the Australian share market is set to start the new week and month higher after Wall Street rose on hopes for economic stimulus. US stocks ended up for the last day of the week and month as Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke suggested more stimulus could be coming.
With the reporting season now having wrapped up attention will this week be on the Reserve Bank of Australia’s monthly interest rate decision tomorrow, a European Central Bank meeting on Thursday and the key monthly US jobs report on Friday.
Economic news
According to the National Bureau of Statistics and China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing China’s official gauge of manufacturing activity dropped to 49.2 in August, easing from 50.1 the month before and under the 50-level that separates expansion from contraction.
Figures
Wall Street lifted over August, and also finished Friday higher: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 90 points to close at 13,091, the S&P500 gained 7 points to close at 1,407 and the Nasdaq gained 18 points to close at 3,067.
European markets closed mixed at the end of last week: London’s FTSE lost 8 points, Paris added 34 points and Frankfurt added 75 points.
Asian markets ended lower at the end of last week: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 70 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei lost 144 and China’s Shanghai Composite lost 5 points.
The Australian share market finished flat on Friday and lost 0.8 per cent over last week: The S&P/ASX 200 Index added just 0.4 points on Friday and lost 33 points over the week to finish August at 4,316. On the futures market the SPI is 24 points higher.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 7:20AM was buying $US1.029 cents, 64.83 Pence Sterling, 80.63 Yen and 81.81 Euro cents.
Economic news due out today The Australian Industry Group: Performance of manufacturing index for August
TD Securities: Inflation gauge for August
ANZ Banking Group
(ASX:ANZ): Job advertisements data for August
Reserve Bank of Australia: Index of commodity prices for August
Dun and Bradstreet: Business expectations survey.
Best performing stocks in August
Integra Mining Limited
(ASX:IGR) soared 49.2 per cent
BlueScope Steel Limited
(ASX:BSL) jumped 26.4 per cent
Intrepid Mines Limited
(ASX:IAU) put on 25 per cent
Worst performing stocks in August APN News and Media Limited
(ASX:APN) plunged 46.7 per cent
Boart Longyear Limited
(ASX:BLY) shed 38.4 per cent
Discovery Metals Limited
(ASX:DML) lost 27.4 per cent
Friday’s worst performers Shares in APN News and Media Limited
(ASX:APN) plunged to the day’s worst performer after announcing its chief financial officer Peter Myers has resigned and will be replaced by Jeff Howard. Shares in APN plunged 26.92 per cent on Friday, finishing the week at $0.285.
Shares in Fairfax Media Limited
(ASX:FXJ) fell to an all time low on Friday, sinking the company’s market value to under $1 billion for the first time. The media company’s shares have halved in the past six months, in the same period it posted a $2.7 billion loss and speculation surfaced the company could be poised to split. Shares in Fairfax Media fell 5.62 per cent on Friday, finishing the week at $0.42.
Commodities
Gold is up $30.50 to $US1,687 an ounce for the December contract on Comex.
Silver is up $1.00 to $31.44 for December.
Copper is up $0.02 at $3.46 a pound.
Oil is up $1.85 at $US96.47 a barrel for October light crude in New York.
Ex-dividends
Fiducian Portfolio Services Limited
(ASX:FPS) Warrnambool Cheese & Butter Factory Co.
(ASX:WCB)
