The Australian share market looks to be bracing to retreat after global markets sank overnight. Investors were spooked by speculation the US Federal Reserve could exit its stimulus program sooner than expected, simmering US tensions with North Korea and weaker than expected jobs figures ahead of America’s key monthly jobs report due at the end of this week.
US economic news
Payroll processing firm ADP has shown America’s private sector added less jobs than expected last month – with the US economy gaining 158,000 jobs in March.
The Institute for Supply Management's Services Index produced a lower than expected read of 54.4 for March, representing the softest growth level in seven months.
Figures
Wall Street fell on Wednesday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 112 points to close at 14,550, the S&P 500 dropped 17 points to close at 1,554 and the NASDAQ dropped 36 points to close at 3,219.
European markets also pulled back on Wednesday: London’s FTSE lost 70 points, Paris lost 50 points and Frankfurt lost 69 points.
Asian markets closed mixed on Wednesday: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 30 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei added 359 and China’s Shanghai Composite dipped 2 points.
The Australian share market reversed direction yesterday, dropping into the red by noon and closing 0.6 per cent down: The S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 28 points by session’s close to end at 4,958. On the futures market the SPI is 35 points lower.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 7:30AM was buying $US1.046 cents, 69.14 Pence Sterling, 97.25 Yen and 81.45 Euro cents.
Economic news due out today Australian Bureau of Statistics: Retail trade data for February and building approvals data for February
Australian Industry Group-Commonwealth Bank of Australia
(ASX:CBA): Performance of Services Index
Company news News Corp’s
(ASX:NWS) chief Rupert Murdoch has been named Australia’s richest boss of a listed company with $9.1 billion followed by Crown Limited’s
(ASX:CWN) chief James Packer at $4.3 billion. On the back of the benchmark S&P/ASX 200's rally, BRW’s Rich Bosses list for 2013 has revealed the total wealth of the list jumped 34 per cent to $27.1 billion. The list has been measured by the value of shareholdings executives hold in the companies they work for. Shares in News Corp rose 1.67 per cent on Wednesday, ending at $29.76.
BHP Billiton Limited’s
(ASX:BHP) locally listed stock has booked its worst quarterly performance since September 2011. The global miner’s share price fall came in the same period the domestic mining sector dropped 7.5 per cent between January and March 2013 – the worst quarterly performance since June 2012. BHP Billiton booked a 58 per cent first half profit fall and announced the resignation of its CEO Marius Kloppers in February 2013. Shares in BHP Billiton fell 1.5 per cent on Wednesday, ending at $32.23.
Ex-dividends
Austock Group Limited
(ASX:ACK) with a 1 cent unfranked dividend
Austbrokers Holdings Limited
(ASX:AUB) with an 11 cent fully franked dividend
ITL Limited
(ASX:ITD) with a 0.5 cent fully franked dividend
Commodities
Gold is down $22.40 to $US1,554 an ounce for the June contract on Comex.
Silver is down $0.45 to $26.80 for May.
Copper is down $0.05 at $3.33 a pound.
Oil is down $2.74 at $US94.45 a barrel for May light crude in New York.
