Boosted by offshore leads the Australian share market looks to lift this morning. Wall Street gained on hopes fiscal cliff negotiations are progressing in the right direction and better than expected housing figures.
US economic news
Investors were encouraged by two upbeat reads on the American housing market: The National Association of Realtors reported existing home sales increased 2.1 per cent to an annual rate of 4.79 million in October. Over the year sales were up 11 per cent and the national medium price for an existing home in the US was $US178,600.
The National Association of Home Builders' sentiment index increased for the seventh consecutive month to the highest level since May 2006. The index came in at 46 for November, up from 41 the month before but remained below 50 indicating poor market conditions.
Figures
Wall Street gained on Monday ahead of a holiday shortened week: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 208 points to close at 12,796, the S&P500 gained 27 points to close at 1,387 and the Nasdaq gained 63 points to close at 2,916.
European markets started the week higher: London’s FTSE added 132 points, Paris added 98 points and Frankfurt added 173 points.
Asian markets started the week higher: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 103 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei added 129 and China’s Shanghai Composite added 2 points.
The Australian share mark started the week 0.6 per cent higher: The S&P/ASX 200 Index added 25 points on Monday to finish at 4,361. On the futures market the SPI is now 29 points higher.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 8:20AM was buying $US1.041 cents, 65.47 Pence Sterling, 84.75 Yen and 81.28 Euro cents.
Economic news due out today
The Reserve Bank of Australia: November board meeting minutes
Australian Bureau of Statistics: International merchandise imports data for October
Commonwealth Bank of Australia
(ASX:CBA): Business sales indicator
To company news
National Australia Bank Limited’s
(ASX:NAB) CEO was the third highest paid from the Big Four Bank’s bosses in the 2012 financial year. NAB’s chief Cameron Clyne took home $8.8 million, down from $10.1 million paid to ANZ Banking Group’s
(ASX:ANZ) CEO Mike Smith and $9.6 million paid to Westpac Banking Corporation Limited’s
(ASX:WBC) CEO Gail Kelly but up from $5.7 million paid to Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s
(ASX:CBA) CEO Ian Narvev. Mr Clyne’s annual remuneration dipped from the year before as the bank posted a 22 per cent profit drop on the back of losses from its UK operations. Shares in National Australia Bank’s rose 0.69 per cent on Monday to close at $23.36.
Air New Zealand Limited
(ASX:AIZ) has confirmed its 19.99 per cent stake in Virgin Australia Holdings Limited
(ASX:VAH). The New Zealand based airline says it purchased 49.1 million shares to retain ownership level after Singapore Airlines joined the shareholder register with a 10 per cent stake. Singapore Airlines paid $105 million for the interest in Virgin last month at the same time Virgin announced plans to buy Skywest Airlines Limited
(ASX:SXR) and a stake in Tiger Airways. Shares in Virgin Australia Holdings lifted 2.06 per cent on Monday to close at $0.495.
Ex-dividends today
CSR Limited
(ASX:CSR) with a 3 cent unfranked dividend
Orica Limited
(ASX:ORI) with a 54 cent dividend, 44.45 per cent franked
Whitefield Limited
(ASX:WHF) with an 8.5 cent fully franked dividend
Commodities
Gold is up $19.70 to $US1,734 an ounce for the December contract on Comex.
Silver is up $0.82 to $33.19 for December.
Copper is up $0.08 at $3.53 a pound.
Oil is up $2.36 at $US89.28 a barrel for January light crude in New York.
