The Australian share market is set to push to the 5000-mark today, after strong leads from the US following Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s comments that the massive stimulus program would continue until the economy improves.
In a testimony to the US House of Representatives committee, Mr Bernanke said the policy of tapering its bond-buying program was not on a preset course and the Fed would likely begin scaling back on its bond-buying later this year, but only if the economy recovers somewhat.
Currencies
The Aussie dollar lifted on the news from the US against a weaker greenback. At 7:20AM the Australian dollar was buying $US92.42 cents, 60.75 Pence Sterling, 92.04 Yen and 70.43 Euro cents.
Figures
Wall Street liked the news: The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 19 points to close at 15,471, the S&P 500 gained 5 points to close at 1,681 and the NASDAQ lifted 12 points to close at 3,610.
European markets followed suit: London’s FTSE added 16 points, Paris gained 21 points and Frankfurt jumped 54 points.
Asian markets had a mixed session: Tokyo’s Nikkei added 16 points, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lifted by 59 points, and China’s Shanghai Composite lost 21 points.
The Australian share market moved slightly lower yesterday. At the close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 4 points at 4,982.
On the futures market the SPI is 23 points higher.
Economic news
The National Australia Bank will release its business survey for the June quarter today and HIA and RP Data will put out the Residential Land Report for the March quarter.
Company news
Woodside Petroleum Limited
(ASX:WPL) joins the raft of resources companies releasing their production reports this week. Woodside will release its second quarter report today, with analysts expecting weak results after the company issued a production guidance downgrade of three million barrels of oil equivalent due to unspecified problems at the Pluto LNG plant near Karratha. Shares in Woodside got a marginal boost yesterday, up 0.1 per cent to close at $37.45.
You can also expect news from DUET Group
(ASX:DUE) and SP AusNet
(ASX:SPN) which are both set to hold general meetings today.
Westpac Banking Corp
(ASX:WBC) wants its slice of the annuity-like product market, launching a flexible investment product targeting self-managed superannuation funds, according to media reports. The product, which returns both principal and interest in its term, lays the ground work for a bank move on the market, which is currently dominated by Challenger Limited
(ASX:CGF). Shares in Westpac dropped 0.91 per cent yesterday to close at $29.40.
Ex-dividend Euroz Limited
(ASX:EZL) will pay 5 cents per share fully franked.
Commodities
Gold is down $12.90 to $US1,277.50 an ounce for the August contract on Comex. Silver is down $0.52 to $19.42 for September. Copper is down $0.06 at $3.13 a pound. Oil is up $0.48 at US$106.48 a barrel for August light crude in New York.
