The Australian share market looks poised for a steady start following mixed offshore leads. Wall Street closed barely changed in muted trade as the Veterans Day holiday saw the bond market and the banks close and no major US economic news released. In Europe a meeting of euro zone finance ministers was the focus amid concern surrounding Greece’s austerity measures. In Asia Japan’s latest GDP figures showed a bigger than expected contraction.
Figures
Wall Street edged slightly higher by Monday’s close: The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1 point to close at 12,817, the S&P500 added 0.15 points to close at 1,380 and the Nasdaq added 2 points to close at 2,904.
European markets started the week mixed: London’s FTSE lost 2 points, Paris lost 12 points and Frankfurt added 5 points.
Asian markets also started the week mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 46 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei lost 81 and China’s Shanghai Composite added 10 points.
The Australian share mark spent most of yesterday in negative territory, starting the week 0.3 per cent down: The S&P/ASX 200 Index lost 14 points on Monday to close 4,448. On the futures market the SPI is now flat.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 8:15AM was buying $US1.043 cents, 65.69 Pence Sterling, 82.89 Yen and 82.07 Euro cents.
Economic news due out today The Australian Bureau of Statistics is lending finance data for September quarter
National Australia Bank Limited
(ASX:NAB): Monthly business survey for October
Company news Global miner BHP Billiton Limited
(ASX:BHP) is reportedly considering exporting a part of its US shale gas reserves to Asia, a move which could compete with Australia’s liquefied natural gas exports. According to Fairfax Media the CEO of BHP’s petroleum division says it is closely studying potential opportunities after noting an increase in Asian interest for US gas. The report also says the petroleum chief has also expressed concern about the cost of developing gas fields in Australia. Shares in BHP Billiton lost 0.46 per cent on Monday to close at $34.30.
Former James Hardie Industries plc
(ASX:JHX) non-executive directors have lost an appeal in the New South Wales Court of Appeal and will now face fines and bans from serving on company boards. The building products manufacturer says it is now not able to assess the costs of the proceedings for it which may become liable but will disclose the figure should it become material. The long running case is in relation to seven past directors who have been found in breach of their duties when they stated an asbestos compensation fund was fully funded when it was short of more than $1 billion. Shares in James Hardie Industries fell 2.02 per cent on Monday to close at $9.20.
Ex-dividends today
Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co. Limited
(ASX:SOL) with a 27 cent fully franked dividend
Ex-dividends this week
ResMed Inc.
(ASX:RMD) with a 1.7 cent unfranked dividend
Skywest Airlines Limited
(ASX:SXR) with a 1.02 cent unfranked dividend
Bank of Queensland Limited
(ASX:BOQ) with a 26 cent fully franked dividend
Atlas Iron Limited
(ASX:AGO) with a 3 cent unfranked dividend
SP AusNet
(ASX:SPN) with a 4.1 cent dividend, franked 33.3 per cent
Commodities
Gold is down $3.30 to $US1,727 an ounce for the December contract on Comex.
Silver is down $0.15 to $32.37 for December.
Copper is up $0.02 at $3.47 a pound.
Oil is down $0.50 at $US85.57 a barrel for December light crude in New York.
