The Australian share market is poised for a soft start following weak offshore leads. Wall Street dropped in light trade on Friday as the fiscal cliff deadline edged closer and news of another American mass shooting weighed on sentiment. At home we can expect a quiet session in the lead up to Christmas with no major economic news scheduled for release.
Figures
Wall Street finished lower at the end of last week: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 36 points to close at 13,135, the S&P500 lost 6 points to close at 1,414 and the Nasdaq lost 21 points to close at 2,971.
European markets closed mixed at the end of last week: London’s FTSE lost 8 points, Paris added 0.15 points added Frankfurt added 14 points.
Asian markets also ended mixed at the end of last week: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 160 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei lost 5 and China’s Shanghai Composite added 89 points.
The Australian share mark ended steady on Friday but rose over last week: The S&P/ASX 200 index added just 0.3 points on Friday but gained 31 points over the week to finish at 4,583. On the futures market the SPI is 10 points lower.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 8:20AM was buying $US1.055 cents, 65.28 Pence Sterling, 89 Yen and 80.13 Euro cents.
Economic news due out today
Housing Industry Association: State and national outlook for the September quarter 2012
Company news Clough Limited
(ASX:CLO) has increased its annual revenue and earnings before interest and tax guidance. The engineering and project services provider says the anticipated earnings boost comes on the back of contract wins and continued strong trading conditions. Clough expects revenue to rise to $1.3 billion in the full 2013 financial year and an earnings before interest and tax margin of 5.5 per cent in both the half and full year. Shares in Clough rose 3.37 per cent on Friday to end the week at $0.92 after the announcement was made.
Tap Oil Limited
(ASX:TAP) has responded to speculation it is looking to sell some or all of its interest in the Zola and Tallaganda gas fields in Western Australia. The oil and gas explorer says while no offers have been received for the assets the company has started to test the market for a sale. Tap Oil has advises it is investigating options to monetise its interest in the Zola gas discovery and believes the Tallaganda discovery could be a complementary asset for a gas buyer. Shares in Tap Oil gained 2.34 per cent on Friday to end the week at $0.655 after the announcement was made.
Ex-dividends this week
Amadeus Energy Limited
(ASX:AMU) with a 2 cent unfranked dividend
Singapore Telecommunications Limited
(ASX:SGT) with a 6.8 cent unfranked dividend
Thorn Group Limited
(ASX:TGA) with a 4.5 cent fully franked dividend
Australian Infrastructure Fund Limited
(ASX:AIX) with a 5.5 cent fully franked dividend
Australand Property Group
(ASX:ALZ) with an 11 cent unfranked dividend
APA Group
(ASX:APA) with a 17 cent unfranked dividend
Aspen Group Limited
(ASX:APZ) with a 0.75 cent unfranked dividend
Commodities
Gold is down $13.20 to $US1,697 an ounce for the February contract on Comex.
Silver is down $0.06 to $32.30 for March.
Copper is up $0.02 at $3.68 a pound.
Oil is up $0.84 at $US86.73 a barrel for January light crude in New York.
