Following mixed leads, the Australian share market looks set to open flat today after European stocks lost ground overnight and wall street delivered a soft performance as trade resumed after a two day shutdown and investors take a cautious approach ahead of next week's presidential election.
US news
The New York Stock Exchange opened its market on time by running on backup power from generators. Brokers on the NYSE floor experienced limited Internet and mobile-phone connections, while still being able to trade from the exchange. The two-day trading halt was the longest weather-related closure of the NYSE since 1888.
European economic news
Unemployment in the eurozone rose in September to a record high of 11.6% according to the European Commission's Eurostat statistics agency.
Figures
Wall Street closed mixed yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 11 points to close at 13,096, the S&P500 added 0.22 points to close at 1,412 and the Nasdaq lost 11 points to close at 2,977.
European markets closed lower: London’s FTSE lost 67 points, Paris lost 30 and Frankfurt shed 24 points.
Asian markets closed up: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 213 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei added 86 and China’s Shanghai Composite added 7 points.
The Australian share market closed higher yesterday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 31 points up to finish at 4,517. On the futures market the SPI is 5 points lower.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 8:00AM was buying $US1.037, 64.33 Pence Sterling, 82.85 Yen and 80.08 Euro cents.
In economic news: Due out today from the Reserve Bank of Australia is index of commodity prices for October, The ABS will report trade price indexes for September quarter and the AIG/Pricewaterhouse performance of manufacturing (PMI) index for October will also be released.
Company news Despite challenging retail conditions JB Hi-Fi Limited
(ASX:JBH) says it remains confident that it can grow its market share during fiscal 2013. The retailer’s chief Terry Smart says its branded stores grew by 3.8 per cent during the first quarter of fiscal 2013. The company expects to have opened 11 new JB Hi-Fi stores between July and Christmas. Shares in JB Hi Fi closed 1.08 per cent upyesterday at $10.25.
Alliance Aviation Services Limited
(ASX:AQZ) has launched a fully underwritten placement of about 13.5 million new shares to institutional and sophisticated investors in an effort to raise about $25 million. The placement is being offered at a fixed price of $1.85 per share. The proceeds will be used to fund the acquisition of up to five aircrafts and provide financial flexibility for future growth. Alliance Aviation provides fly-in, fly-out transportation to the mining and energy sectors. Shares in Alliance Aviation last traded at $2.00.
Ex-dividends Brickworks Limited
(ASX:BKW) with a 27 cent fully-franked dividend and Trafalgar Corporate Group
(ASX:TGP) with a 2.5 cent unfranked dividend.
Commodities Gold is up $7.00 to $US1,719 an ounce for the December contract on Comex. Silver is up $0.50 to $32.32 for December. Copper is up $0.01 at $3.52 a pound. Oil is up $0.56 at US$86.24 a barrel for December light crude in New York.
