Outlook: ASX looks to continue climbing

Market Reports

After ending at an 18 month high on Friday the Australian share market looks set to continue climbing into the new week. While it is quiet day on the local economic front attention will be on inflation figures due for release mid week. Though Wall Street will close for the Martin Luther King Jr public holiday on Monday US earnings reports will remain in focus this week. 
 
Figures

US markets posted their third straight weekly gain but ended mixed on Friday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 54 points to close at 13,650, the S&P500 added 5 points to close at 1,486 and the Nasdaq dipped 1 point to close at 3,135.
 
European markets also finished mixed on Friday: London’s FTSE added 22 points, Paris dipped 3 points and Frankfurt lost 33 points.
 
Asian markets rose on Friday: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 262 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei gained 304 and China’s Shanghai Composite gained 32 points.
 
The Australian share market rallied over last week: The S&P/ASX 200 Index added 15 points on Friday, extending the weekly gain of 62 points to finish at 4,771. On the futures market the SPI is 17 points higher. 
 
Currencies

The Australian Dollar at 8:20AM was buying $US1.051 cents, 66.39 Pence Sterling, 94.83 Yen and 79.04 Euro cents.
 
Company news

Macmahon Holdings Limited (ASX:MAH) will put the proposed sale of its construction assets to Leighton Holdings Limited (ASX:LEI) to its shareholders at the end of February. Macmahon’s directors have unanimously backed the deal with its largest shareholder, Leighton Holdings, which Macmahon says is in line with the company’s strategy of providing services to the mining industry. Chairman Ken Scott-Mackenzie has urged shareholders not be distracted by recent conditional and uncertain approaches from Sembawang. Shares in Macmahon Holdings fell 5.45 per cent on Friday, closing at $0.26. 
 
PMP Limited (ASX:PMP) has sold its analytics business Pacific Micromarketing for $US6.5 million to Experian’s business in Australia and New Zealand. The printing and publishing company says it choose to sell Pacific Micromarketing because it was considered non-core to PMP’s future. CEO Peter George has advised PMP is continuing to review and will if necessary divest the businesses that do not fit with its strategic direction. Shares in PMP closed steady on Friday at $0.135. 
 
Commodities

Gold is down $3.80 to $US1,687 an ounce for the February contract on Comex.
Silver is up $0.12 to $31.93 for March.
Copper is up $0.02 at $3.68 a pound.
Oil is up $0.07 at US$95.56 a barrel for February light crude in New York.

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