The Australian share market is tipped to regain some ground today, led by a rebound in US stocks as investors turned a blind eye to the budget deadlock that kept the government in a partial shut-down for the fourth consecutive day on Friday.
Social media companies had Wall Street humming as Twitter announced its initial public offering plan. The IPO is expected to be the most sought-after since Facebook's market debut in May 2012.
Meantime Facebook jumped 3.9 per cent after announcing it will start selling advertising on its Instagram photo- and video-sharing social network.
There was no major economic news from the US. The Labor Department did not issue its all-important September jobs report on Friday, due to the government shut-down. An alternate release date has not been scheduled.
Currencies
The Australian dollar has barely moved amid little direction from the US and the NSW Labour Day public holiday. At 7:20AM the Aussie was buying $US94.41 cents, 58.93 Pence Sterling, 91.81 Yen and 69.62 Euro cents.
Figures
Wall Street pushed higher on Friday US time: The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 76 points to close at 15,073, the S&P500 added 12 points to close at 1,691 and the Nasdaq gained 33 points to close at 3,808.
European markets followed suit: London’s FTSE lifted by 5 points, Paris added 36 points and Frankfurt gained 25 points.
Asian markets were in the red: Tokyo’s Nikkei shed 133, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 76 points, and China’s Shanghai Composite remained closed for a week-long holiday.
The Australian share market widened its biggest weekly drop in four months on Friday, falling 0.5 per cent on fears over the escalating US budget stalemate fall-out. The S&P/ASX 200 index lost 27 points, extending the weekly fall of 99 points finish at 5,208. On the futures market the SPI is 31 points higher.
Economic news
AIG will release its performance of construction index for September and ANZ is due to release its job advertisement data for September.
Company news
Elders Limited
(ASX:ELD) has flagged an $18 million hit to net profit due to discrepancies in reporting of livestock values in its live cattle export division. The rural services provider says it estimates the discrepancies will drag inventory values down $18 million, and negatively impact underlying net profit after tax. Shares in Elders fell over 4-and-a-half per cent (4.55 per cent) on Friday to close at 10.5 cents.
Fairfax Media Limited
(ASX:FXJ) boss Greg Hywood's pay dropped by $375,000 last financial year because he missed out on bonuses as the company booked a net loss of $16.4 million. Mr Hywood's total pay, which includes shares in the company, was $1.98 million in fiscal 2013, down from $2.35 million last year. Shares in Fairfax dropped just under a per cent (0.9 per cent) on Friday to close at 55 cents.
Commodities
Gold is down $7.70 to $US1,310 an ounce for the December contract on Comex. Silver is down $0.03 to $21.75 for December. Copper is up $0.04 at $3.30 a pound. Oil is up $0.53 at US$103.84 a barrel for November light crude in New York.
