The Australian share market looks set to open slightly lower this morning as investors wait on key local and global economic data due out this week. Federal Reserve officials will conclude a meeting on Wednesday. Movement maybe minimal - they last raised interest rates in December. A report came out on Friday that the US economy grew much faster than expected in the January-March quarter, but still has some way to go. Meanwhile the price of oil dropped on Friday after a huge run of weekly gains. Several counties suspended imports of Russian oil causing Brent Oil to rise above $75 per barrel.
MarketsWall Street closed higher on Friday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.3 per cent to close at 26,543, the S&P 500 added 0.5 per cent to close at 2,940 and the NASDAQ gained 0.3 per cent higher at 8146.
European markets closed mixed on Friday: London’s FTSE fell 0.1 per cent, Paris gained 0.2 per cent and Frankfurt rose 0.3 per cent.
Asian markets closed also mixed on Friday: Tokyo’s Nikkei fell 0.2 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.2 per cent while China’s Shanghai Composite dropped 1.2 per cent.
Taking all of this into equation, the SPI futures are down 2 points. On Friday, the Australian share market closed 0.1 per cent higher or 4 points at 6386.
Company newsWorleyParsons
(ASX:WOR) is expected to have completed the transaction to acquire Jacobs Engineering Group Inc.’s Energy, Chemicals and Resources division. They entered the agreement back in October last year that time, when a Stock and Asset Purchase Agreement was signed. This has been amended and restates a change in the total consideration being paid to US$3.2 billion (A$4.55 billion). The reduction is a result of movement of the WorleyParsons share price affecting the equity component of the consideration. Shares in WorleyParsons
(ASX:WOR) closed 4.49 per cent lower at $14.47 on Friday.
Ex-DividendsCadence Capital Limited
(ASX:CDM) is paying 3 cents fully franked
Gryphon Capital Income Trust
(ASX:GCI) is paying 0.85 cents unfranked
Qualitas Real Estate Income Fund
(ASX:QRI) is paying 0.6719 cents unfranked
Steamships Trading Company Limited
(ASX:SST) is paying 42.3923 cents unfranked
CurrenciesOne Australian Dollar at 7:40AM was buying 70.43US cents, 54.53 Pence Sterling, 78.61 Yen and 63.20 Euro cents.
Commodities Iron ore futures suggest a 0.56 per cent rise.
Gold has added $9.10 to US$1289 an ounce.
Silver has gained $0.13 to US$15.09 an ounce.
Oil has fallen $1.91 to US$63.30 a barrel.
