The Australian share market looks set to inch higher in early trade, brushing off falls on Wall Street as the reality of the US government shut down set in as well as fears of the nation defaulting on its debt.
Traders say the US losses came as a result of investors waiting out the stalemate, rather than fleeing the market or cutting back on their exposure to riskier assets.
US economic news
Disappointing US economic news also weighed on stocks. The private sector created 166,000 jobs in September, below economist forecasts.
Also discouraging traders was a cut to August's job growth figure, which was revised down to 159,000, from 176,000.
The figures are seen as a preview of the closely watched government jobs report due out on Friday. But if the government shutdown continues, the Bureau of Labour Statistics says the data won't be released. Federal Reserve officials have said they are watching the labor market closely in order to determine when to withdraw stimulus efforts.
Currencies
The US dollar fell against most currencies, including the Australian dollar. At 7:30AM the Aussie was buying $US93.87 cents, 57.86 Pence Sterling, 91.42 Yen and 69.14 Euro cents.
Figures
Wall Street had a down day: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 59 points to close at 15,133, the S&P 500 slipped 1 point to close at 1,694 and the NASDAQ fell 3 points to close at 3,815.
European markets followed suit as the US deadlock continued: London’s FTSE lost 23 points, Paris dropped 38 points and Frankfurt fell 60 points.
Asian markets were mixed with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average slumping 2.2 per cent amid growing concerns over the US government shutdown and a strengthening yen: Tokyo’s Nikkei plunged 314 points, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 125 points coming back from a holiday, and China’s Shanghai Composite is closed for a week-long holiday.
The Australian share market finished 0.2 per cent stronger yesterday amid investor confidence the US government shutdown will not cause serious damage to the economy. The S&P/ASX 200 index closed 9 points up to finish at 5,216. On the futures market the SPI is 11 points higher.
Economic news
The Australian Industry Group and Commonwealth Bank Australian Performance of Services Index for September is due out.
Company news
Mirvac Group
(ASX:MGR) is courting Singaporean giant Mapletree as a major investor in a proposed industrial-park club fund featuring the Sydney headquarters of Woolworths and IBM. Media reports say the properties in the city's northwest are worth a collective $340 million. Shares in Mirvac lifted 0.57 per cent yesterday to close at $1.75.
Clean Seas Tuna Limited
(ASX:CSS) is planning to raise capital to fund increased production of kingfish. The fish farmer told shareholders at its annual general meeting in Adelaide that details of the capital raising would be released within the next two days. Shares in Clean Seas last traded at 7 cents.
Ex-dividend
Commodities
Gold is up $34.60 to $US1,320.70 an ounce for the December contract on Comex. Silver is up $0.72 to $21.90 for December. Copper is up $0.04 at $3.32 a pound. Oil is up $2.06 at US$104.10 a barrel for November light crude in New York.
