The Australian share market is set for a limp start to the trading week, with falls in commodity prices expected to outweigh strong leads from the US.
Wall Street came back from the Independence Day Holiday firing on all cylinders after a positive employment report.
US economic news
The US economy added 195,000 new jobs in June, well above economists' expectations of 155,000 jobs and matching the revised pace of growth from May. Meantime, the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.6%.
Commodities
But commodity prices closed weaker, led by falls in all metals including gold, silver, and copper. Gold tumbled by $39 to $US1,213 an ounce for the August contract on Comex. Silver is down $0.96 to $18.74 for September. Copper is down $0.10 at $3.06 a pound. Oil is up by $1.98 at US$103.22 a barrel for August light crude in New York.
Figures
The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 147 points to close at 15,136, the S&P500 lifted 16 points to close at 1,632 and the Nasdaq gained 36 points to close at 3,479.
European markets were broadly lower: London’s FTSE lost 46 points, Paris fell by 55 points and Frankfurt tumbled by 188 points.
Asian markets tracked higher on Friday: Tokyo’s Nikkei added 291 points, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 386 points, and China’s Shanghai Composite lifted by 1 point.
The Australian share market finished the week on a high. The S&P/ASX 200 index rose 47 points on Friday, extending the weekly gain of 39 points to finish at 4,842.
On the futures market the SPI is 13 points down.
Currencies
Analysts are predicting the Australian dollar could fall below 90 US cents for the first time in almost three years after healthy US jobs data boosted the greenback. At 7:20AM the Aussie was buying $US90.57 cents, 60.88 Pence Sterling, 91.73 Yen and 70.66 Euro cents.
Economic news
ANZ will release its job advertisements series for the month of June
Company news
Crown Limited
(ASX:CWN) chairman James Packer has flagged a move to take on Echo Entertainment’s Group Limited
(ASX:EGP) casinos in Queensland, after beating his rival in Sydney. Mr Packer told media that Echo is doing a terrible job in Queensland, where it operates casinos in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Townsville. Shares in Crown lifted 3.19 per cent on Friday to close at $12.60.
Woodside Petroleum Limited
(ASX:WPL) is reportedly holding back a $750 million payment for a project in the Mediterranean Sea, almost a fortnight after Israel decided to keep a larger than expected amount of gas for domestic consumption. The Israeli cabinet last month approved exporting 40 per cent of its new found gas reserves, setting aside the remaining 60 per cent to meet the country's gas needs for around 25 years. Woodside hasn’t commented on why it withheld the payment, but it was understood to be expecting at least half of the gas to be available for the more lucrative export market. Shares in Woodside gained 0.7 per cent on Friday to close at $35.89.
Ex-dividends TTA Holdings Limited
(ASX:TTA) will pay 0.4 of a cent per share fully franked.
