Strong offshore leads look to give the Australian share market a boost this morning. Wall Street lifted amid better than expected earnings reports and a surprise announcement Citigroup’s CEO will be stepping down. European stocks also gained after upbeat German data and hopes Spain could receive financial aid.
US economic news
The US government's key measure for inflation has increased for a second straight month. The Labor Department has reported the Consumer Price Index rose 0.6 per cent in September, in line with the month before.
Figures
Wall Street started lifted on Tuesday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 128 points to close at 13,552, the S&P500 gained 15 points to close at 1,455 and the Nasdaq gained 37 points to close at 3,101.
European markets rose on Tuesday: London’s FTSE added 65 points, Paris added 81 points and Frankfurt added 115 points.
Asian markets also firmed on Tuesday: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 59 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei added 123 and China’s Shanghai Composite ended flat.
The Australian share market pulled back from session highs to end just 0.2 per cent higher yesterday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index added 8 points on Tuesday to finish at 4,492. On the futures market the SPI is now 27 points stronger.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 8:25AM was buying $US1.029 cents, 63.86 Pence Sterling, 81.19 Yen and 78.61 Euro cents.
Economic news due out today Westpac Banking Corporation
(ASX:WBC)-Melbourne Institute: Leading Indexes of Economic Activity
Company news News Corp’s
(ASX:NWS) chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch has succeeded in holding onto his post after the media company’s shareholders gave their endorsement in Los Angeles this morning. Shareholders rejected a proposal to elect an independent chairman in place of Mr Murdoch and also backed the board at the company’s annual general meeting. Shares in News Corp rose 0.5 per cent yesterday to finish at $24.27.
Reports have emerged claiming Rio Tinto Limited
(ASX:RIO) is gearing up to cut costs and jobs in Europe by 30 per cent by the end of next year. The Australian Associated Press says a union representative who met with company executives has confirmed the plans to reduce costs by about a third. The report comes one day after Rio posted record quarterly iron ore production from Western Australia. Rio revealed a 22 per cent drop in half year profit in August. Shares in Rio Tinto pulled back 1.25 per cent to close at $55.12 after releasing its quarterly report yesterday.
Ex-dividends today
Trust Company Limited
(ASX:TRU) with a $0.12 fully franked dividend
Ex-dividends tomorrow
New Hope Corporation Limited
(ASX:NHC) with a $0.25 fully franked dividend
Commodities
Gold is up $8.70 to $US1,746 an ounce for the December contract on Comex.
Silver is up $0.22 to $32.96 for December.
Copper is down $0.002 at $3.70 a pound.
Oil is up $0.24 at $US92.09 a barrel for November light crude in New York.
