The Australian share market will today turn to a series of earnings reports for direction in the absence of a lead from Wall Street with US markets pausing for the President’s Day public holiday. Overnight, European and Asian markets ended mixed and China returned to trade after a week of Lunar New Year celebrations.
Figures
US markets closed on Monday, recapping Friday's close: The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended at 13,982, the S&P 500 finished at 1,520 and the NASDAQ closed at 3,192.
European markets started the week mixed: London’s FTSE lost 10 points, Paris added 7 points and Frankfurt gained 35 points.
Asian markets started the week mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 63 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei added 234 points and China’s Shanghai Composite lost 11 points.
The Australian share market started the week 0.6 per cent higher: The S&P/ASX 200 Index advanced 30 points on Monday end at 5,063. On the futures market the SPI is 4 points lower.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 8:20AM was buying $US1.03 cents, 66.63 Pence Sterling, 96.8 Yen and 77.2 Euro cents.
Economic news due out today
The Reserve Bank of Australia: February board meeting minutes, when the central bank kept the official interest rate steady at 3 per cent.
Australian Bureau of Statistics: International merchandise imports for January
Company news Telstra Corporation Limited
(ASX:TLS), Telecom Corporation of New Zealand
(ASX:TEL) and Vodaphone have inked a deal to co-invest in an Auckland to Sydney telecommunications cable. The non-binding memorandum of understanding includes the construction of a new submarine cable which is intended to improve New Zealand’s connectivity with Australia and strengthen links to Asian markets. The proposed cable is called the Tasman Global Access Cable, expected to cost less than $US60 million and slated for completion mid to late 2014. Shares in Telstra fell 1.3 per cent on Monday to close at $4.57.
Automotive Holdings Group Limited
(ASX:AHE) has posted a 25 per cent jump in its first half profit and forecast a solid full year result. The automotive retailing and logistics group achieved the result on the back of a 13.5 per cent lift in revenue and has also boosted its interim dividend by 1 cent to 8 cents per share, fully franked. Shares in Automotive Holdings Group gained 4.06 per cent on Monday to close at $4.10.
Ex-dividends today
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
ISS Group Limited
(ASX:ISS) with a 0.85 cent unfranked dividend
Platinum Capital Limited
(ASX:PMC) with a 2 cent fully franked dividend
SAI Global Limited
(ASX:SAI) with a 6.8 cent fully franked dividend
Wesfarmers Limited
(ASX:WES) with a 77 cent fully franked dividend
