The Australian share market is set for a moderate start to the day with the SPI barely pointing up and after US stocks closed mixed last week, despite positive employment figures, the global economy continues to weigh on investor sentiment.
US economic news
A better than expected report on the jobs market was released from the Labor Department on Friday. An additional 114,000 jobs were added in September. The unemployment rate dropped to 7.8 per cent, falling below 8 per cent for the first time since early 2009.
Figures
Wall Street closed mixed on Friday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 35 points to close at 13,611, the S&P500 lost 0.5 point to close at 1,461 and the Nasdaq lost 13 points to close at 3,136.
European markets closed up: London’s FTSE added 43 points, Paris gained 56 and Frankfurt added 93 points.
Asian markets closed up: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 104 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei was up by 39 and China’s Shanghai Composite remains closed for public holidays.
The Australian share market closed higher on Friday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 42 points up to finish at 4,494. On the futures market the SPI is 1 point higher.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 8:15AM was buying $US1.016, 62.99 Pence Sterling, 79.93 Yen and 78.02 Euro cents.
Economic news Due out today from Australia and New Zealand Banking Group
(ASX:ANZ) is job advertisements for September.
Company news
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group’s
(ASX:ANZ) chief Phil Chronican says although the cost of funding has started to stabilize this year it is currently refinancing borrowings that were made three-five years ago. All eyes will be on ANZ later this week as it remains the only bank of the big four to have not lowered rates after the RBA’s most recent 25 basis point cut. Commonwealth Bank of Australia
(ASX:CBA) and National Australia Bank Limited
(ASX:NAB) said they would reduce their rates by 20 basis points while Westpac Banking Corporation
(ASX:WBC) cut its rate by 18 basis points last week. Shares in ANZ closed 0.79 per cent up on Friday at $25.50.
BHP Billiton Limited’s chief
(ASX:BHP) Marius Kloppers has sold $1.8 million worth of shares on the London stock exchange late last week in an effort to meet his tax obligations. The news follows another sell off in Australia, raising $3.3 million. The global miner’s CEO had recently agreed to forgo his bonus and reduced his pay by about $1.8 million. Shares in BHP Billiton closed 1 per cent upon Friday at $33.32.
Commodities: Gold is down $12.70 to $US1,780 an ounce for the December contract on Comex. Silver is down $0.53 to $34.57 for December. Copper is down $0.01 at $3.78 a pound. Oil is down $1.83 at US$89.88 a barrel for November light crude in New York.
Ex-dividends
