The Australian share market looks set to rise into a new week after Wall Street posted a strong end to a thinly traded holiday shortened week. US investor sentiment was given a boost post the Thanksgiving holiday as Americans spent up at the shops on Black Friday, the traditional start to the US Christmas shopping season. As no major local economic news is scheduled for release today attention will again remain on annual general meetings.
Figures
Wall Street finished the Thanksgiving holiday shortened week stronger: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 173 points to close at 13,010, the S&P500 gained 18 points to close at 1,409 and the Nasdaq gained 40 points to close at 2,967.
European markets also gained at the end of last week: London’s FTSE added 28 points, Paris added 31 points added Frankfurt added 64 points.
Asian markets also rose at the end of last week: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 171 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei added 144 and China’s Shanghai Composite added 12 points.
The Australian share mark closed flat on Friday but gained 1.7 per cent over the week: The S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 76 points over the week to finish at 4,413. On the futures market the SPI is now 30 points higher.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 8:15AM was buying $US1.045 cents, 65.28 Pence Sterling, 86.16 Yen and 80.69 Euro cents.
Company news Leighton Holdings Limited’s
(ASX:LEI) subsidiary Thiess has been named as the preferred contractor on the Pacific Highway upgrade project as part of a joint venture. The contract is worth about $450 million, has been awarded by the New South Wales Government and is expected to be signed next month. Under the contract the Theiss MacMahon joint venture will design and construct a 26.5 kilometre four lane divided carriageway. Shares in Leighton Holdings dipped 1.17 per cent on Friday, before the announcement was made, to finish the week at $16.88.
Monadelphous Group Limited
(ASX:MND) has been awarded a maintenance contract from QGC Pty Ltd worth more than $80 million. The mining services company will provide maintenance services at the Queensland Curtis LNG plant near Gladstone in Queensland. The six and a half year contract will start early 2013 and Monadelphous says it adds to its growing portfolio of work in the liquefied natural gas sector. Shares in Monadelphous Group slipped 1.39 per cent on Friday to finish the week at $21.32.
Ex-dividends today
AngloGold Ashanti Limited
(ASX:AGG) with a 0.91 cent unfranked dividend
DuluxGroup Limited
(ASX:DLX) with a final 8 cent fully franked dividend
Hudson Investment Group Limited
(ASX:HGL) with a final 2 cent fully franked dividend
Infratil Limited
(ASX:IFZ) with an interim 2.55 cent unfranked dividend
Oriental Technologies Investment Limited
(ASX:OTI) with an interim 0.5 cent unfranked dividend
Ruralco Holdings Limited
(ASX:RHL) with a final 10 cent fully franked dividend
Ex-dividends tomorrow
Fisher and Paykel Healthcare Corporation Limited
(ASX:FPH) with a 6.35 cent unfranked dividend
Graincorp Limited
(ASX:GNC) with a 35 cent fully franked dividend
Commodities
The price of gold is up $23.20 to $US1,751 an ounce for the December contract on Comex.
Silver is up $0.77 to $34.12 for December.
Copper is up $0.03 at $3.53 a pound.
Oil is up $0.90 at $US88.28 a barrel for January light crude in New York.
