The Australian share market is likely to begin the week of trade flat, as it looks for direction locally, ahead of some highly anticipated earnings reports this week.
Figures
Wall Street was in the red on Friday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 73 points to close at 15,426, the S&P500 lost 6 points to close at 1,691 and the Nasdaq lost 9 points to close at 3,660.
European markets moved higher on positive economic news from China: London’s FTSE added 54 points, Paris added 12 points and Frankfurt lifted 20 points.
Asian markets also closed higher: Tokyo’s Nikkei added 10, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 152 points, and China’s Shanghai Composite added 7 points.
The Australian share market closed lower on Friday. The S&P/ASX 200 dropped 10 points on Friday, widening the weekly fall of 62 points to finish at 5,055. On the futures market the SPI is flat.
In economic news the Australian Bureau of Statistics releases the lending finance figures for June.
The Australian dollar extended its rally after the release of strong Chinese data. At 7:30AM was buying $US91.84 cents, 59.3 Pence Sterling, 88.48 Yen and 68.9 Euro cents.
Company news
Newcrest Mining Limited
(ASX:NCM) is expected to report a steep fall in profits when it reveals its full year results today. Analyst forecasts suggest the gold miner will report an underlying profit of $485 million, which will convert to a loss of more than $5 billion when the anticipated asset write-downs are factored in. Shares in Newcrest lifted 2.32 per cent on Friday to close at $11.48.
UGL Limited
(ASX:UGL) will also release its full year earnings report today. The market update comes amid media reports the company may be about to split its engineering and property arms ahead of CEO Richard Leupen’s planned departure next year. Shares in UGL lifted 0.27 per cent to close at $7.40 on Friday.
Ex-dividend
Merchant House International Limited
(ASX:MHI) will pay 0.5 cents per share unfranked
Northern Star Resources Limited
(ASX:NST) will pay 2.5 cents per share fully franked
Titan Energy Services Limited
(ASX:TTN) will pay 3.5 cents fully franked
Commodities
Gold is up $8.30 to $US1,312 an ounce for the December contract on Comex. Silver is up $0.21 to $20.41 for September. Copper is up $0.05 at $3.31 a pound. Oil is up $2.57 at US$105.97 a barrel for September light crude in New York.
