The Australian share market looks set to take a breather from a strong start to the new trading year spurred on by a last minute deal to avert the US fiscal cliff. Overnight Wall Street eased amid concerns the US Federal Reserve could cease its stimulus program faster than expected.
US economic news
Ahead of key monthly non-farm payrolls figures for December, due for release this evening, payroll processor ADP reported the private sector added more jobs than expected last month, gaining 215,000 jobs in December. A separate report from the Labor Department showed first-time jobless claims increased 10,000 to 372,000 last week.
Figures
Wall Street pulled back on Thursday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 21 points to close at 13,391, the S&P500 lost 3 points to close at 1,459 and the Nasdaq lost 12 points to close at 3,101.
European markets finished mixed on Thursday: London’s FTSE added 20 points, Paris lost 13 points and Frankfurt lost 22 points.
Asian markets rose on Thurdsday: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 87 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei added 72 and China’s Shanghai Composite added 36 points.
The Australian share market jumped 0.7 per cent on Thursday to a fresh 19-month high: The S&P/ASX 200 index jumped 35 points to finish at 4,741. On the futures market the SPI is 3 points lower.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 8:35AM was buying $US1.047 cents, 65.04 Pence Sterling, 91.27 Yen and 80.22 Euro cents.
Economic news due out today Australian Industry Group-Commonwealth Bank of Australia
(ASX:CBA): Performance of Services Index for December
Company news Commonwealth Bank of Australia
(ASX:CBA) has broken through the $100 billion market capitalisation barrier. As the top 200 stocks rose to a fresh 19-month high yesterday shares in Australia’s largest bank gained to an all time high as investors took to high-yielding stocks. CBA generated a record net profit of $7.1 billion in the 2012 financial year. Shares in Commonwealth Bank of Australia gained 0.83 per cent on Thursday, ending at a record $63.24.
Miclyn Express Offshore Limited’s
(ASX:MIO) first half net profit will take a hit after its decision to pull out of operating in Iran in the face of international sanctions. The provider of service vessels to the offshore oil and gas industry decided to withdraw after weighing up its legal and ethical responsibilities against its responsibilities to its assets and people. Miclyn expects to redeploy the vessels in the Middle East quickly and on similar or better returns than achieved in Iran. Shares in Miclyn Express Offshore fell 1.22 per cent on Thursday, ending at $2.42.
Commodities
Gold is down $14.20 to $US1,674 an ounce for the February contract on Comex.
Silver is down $0.28 to $30.72 for March.
Copper is down $0.02 at $3.72 a pound.
Oil is down $0.20 at US$92.92 a barrel for February light crude in New York.
