The Australian share market looks set to open slightly higher after gains in US shares following better than expected employment sector reports.
US economic newsPayrolls company ADP has released its job creation report for September, indicating a 14 per cent slide from August, with 162, 000 private sector jobs created. The job gain was, however, higher than analyst expectations of 153,000 newly created jobs for the month.
FiguresWall Street closed higher yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 12 points to close at 13,495, the S&P500 added 5 points to close at 1,451 and the Nasdaq gained 15 to close at 3,135 points.
European markets closed mixed: London’s FTSE added 16 points, Paris lost 8 and Frankfurt gained 16 points.
Asian markets also closed mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 48 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei dropped 39 and China’s Shanghai Composite added 30 points.
The Australian share market closed its highest in 14 months yesterday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 6 points up to finish at 4,439. On the futures market the SPI is 13 points higher.
CurrenciesThe Australian Dollar at 7:15AM was buying $US1.021 cents, 63.56 Pence Sterling, 80.22 Yen and 79.17 Euro cents.
Economic newsDue out today from the Australian Bureau of Statisticsare reports on Retail trade and building approvals for August.
Company newsRuralco Holdings Limited
(ASX:RHL) has reportedly approached rival Elders about a potential merger that would result in a $500 million rural services group to rival sector leader Landmark. According to Fairfax Media Ruralco chairman Richard England outlined a merger proposal in a letter to Elders chairman John Ballard in September. Mr Ballard reportedly declined the initial offer due to insufficient details but Ruralco sees an opportunity to achieve cost savings that would permit the merged companies to compete strongly with Landmark. Shares in Ruralco closed 1.15 per cent lower yesterday at $3.44.
Former Toll Holdings Limited
(ASX:TOL)managing director Paul Little earned $6.4 million in the 2011 financial year according to Toll's 2012 annual report released yesterday. Mr Little, who left the logistics and transport company last December, was paid $994,000 in salary, plus leave entitlements of $1.92 million and a termination benefit of $1.5 million. In August, Toll booked a 77 per cent fall in full year profit after writing down assets in Australia and Japan. Shares in Toll Holdings closed 1.14 per cent up yesterday at $4.42
CommoditiesGold is up $4.20 to $US1,779 an ounce for the December contract on Comex. Silver is up by $0.02 to $34.69 for December. Copper is down $0.02 at $3.78 a pound. Oil is down $3.75 at US$88.14 a barrel for November light crude in New York.
Ex-dividendsOrotonGroup Limited
(ASX:ORL) with a 28 cent fully franked dividend
Premier Investments Limited
(ASX:PMV) with an 18 cent fully franked dividend
Altium Limited
(ASX:ALU) with a 5 cent dividend unfranked.
GBST Holdings Limited
(ASX:GBT) with a 2.5 cent fully franked dividend
Gowing Bros. Limited
(ASX:GOW) with a 5.5 cent fully franked dividend
UXC Limited
(ASX:UXC) with a 2.5 cent fully franked dividend
