Despite a soft lead from Wall Street the Australian share market looks poised for a positive start as stocks take direction from earnings ahead of the biggest week of reporting season. Among the companies due to release results today are BlueScope Steel Limited
(ASX:BSL), Lend Lease Group
(ASX:LLC) and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Limited
(ASX:BEN).
Figures
US markets will close on Monday for the President’s Day public holiday. At the end of last week Wall Street ended mainly steady on Friday and slightly down over the week: The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 8 points to close at 13,982, the S&P 500 lost 2 points to close at 1,520 and the NASDAQ lost 7 points to close at 3,192.
European markets ended mixed at the end of last week: London’s FTSE added 1 point, Paris lost 9 points and Frankfurt lost 38 points.
Across Asian markets: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 31 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei lost 134 while China’s Shanghai Composite will resume trading today after a week of Lunar New Year celebrations.
The Australian share market finished almost where it started on Friday, but held over the 5,000 level for the third straight session: The S&P/ASX 200 Index lost 3 points on Friday but gained 63 over the week to end at 5,034. On the futures market the SPI is 13 points higher.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 8:00AM was buying $US1.029 cents, 66.43 Pence Sterling, 96.42 Yen and 77.17 Euro cents.
Economic news due out today Westpac Banking Corporation
(ASX:WBC)-Melbourne Institute: Survey of consumer sentiment
Company news Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s
(ASX:CBA) chief has denied the bank’s record and better than expected profit was achieved on the back of withholding interest rate cuts. CEO Ian Narev told ABC TV the result could be attributed to improvements in productivity and CBA’s wealth management business. Shares in Commonwealth Bank rose 0.19 per cent on Friday, ending the week at $67.03.
Shares in PrimeAg Australia Limited
(ASX:PAG) dipped at the end of last week after announcing it would divest 60 per cent of its land and water portfolio. The US financial services group who has acquired the portfolio will pay up to $126 million for PrimeAg’s assets which includes part of the biggest cropping properties in northern New South Wales. PrimeAg Australia dipped 1.65 per cent on Friday, ending the week at $1.19.
Ex-dividends today
Bradken Limited
(ASX:BKN) with a 20 cent fully franked dividend
Commonwealth Bank of Australia
(ASX:CBA) with a $1.64 dividend, fully franked
Centrex Metals Limited
(ASX:CXM) with a 5 cent fully franked dividend
Telstra Corporation Limited
(ASX:TLS) with a 14 cent fully franked dividend
Ex-dividends this week
Boral Limited
(ASX:BLD) with a 5 cent fully franked dividend
Computershare Limited
(ASX:CPU) with a 14 cent fully franked dividend
Domino's Pizza Enterprises Limited
(ASX:DMP) with a 15.5 cent fully franked dividend
Commodities
Gold is down $73.70 to $US1,610 an ounce for the April contract on Comex.
Silver is down $0.50 to $29.85 for March.
Copper is down $0.001 at $3.74 a pound.
Oil is down $1.45 at $US95.86 a barrel for March light crude in New York.
