The Australian share market is set to head deeper in to negative territory at the open, after US stocks reversed record high gains, to end the session mixed.
Earlier in the session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average topped 16,000 for the first time, extending a rally fuelled by the combination of steady economic growth and central-bank stimulus.
But the late-session decline came a few minutes after activist investor Carl Icahn told media that he is very cautious on equities and that the market could easily have a big drop.
Figures
Wall Street was a mixed bag after wild swings throughout the day of trade: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 14 points to close at 15,976, the S&P 500 lost 7 points to close at 1,792 and the NASDAQ dropped 37 points to close at 3,949.
European benchmark indexes shrugged off early losses to post a third straight day of gains after data showed that the euro zone's trade surplus climbed to a decade high in September. London’s FTSE jumped 30 points, Paris was up by 28 points and Frankfurt added 57 points.
Asian markets mostly rallied, with Hong Kong and Shanghai boosted by China's reforms aimed at giving private firms a greater role in the economy. Tokyo’s Nikkei lost 2 points, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng soared by 628 points, and China’s Shanghai Composite lifted by 61 points.
The Australian share market closed yesterday’s session in the red, weighed by losses among blue chips, although the big miners helped pull the market off its early lows. The S&P/ASX 200 index closed 17 points down to finish at 5,385. On the futures market the SPI is 19 points lower.
Economic news
The RBA will today release the minutes of its November monetary policy board meeting.
Currencies
The Australian dollar is lower in cautious trade ahead of that central bank release.At 8:20AM the Aussie was buying $US93.83 cents, 58.25 Pence Sterling, 93.78 Yen and 69.47 Euro cents.
Company news
iiNet Limited
(ASX:IIN) will hold its annual general meeting today. The update comes after the internet provider posted a record 64 per cent jump in its net profit for the full year back in August, with the company saying that it’s on track to benefit from the National Broadband Network. Shares in iiNet dipped 2.76 per cent yesterday to close at $6.35.
Seven Group Holdings Limited
(ASX:SVW) will also hold its annual general meeting today. The company delivered a record full-year result of $488.6 million, up 177 per cent on year, which was driven largely by Wes Trac’s successful first half. Shares in Seven fell 0.93 per cent yesterday to close at $7.47.
Commodities
Gold is down $15.10 to $US1,272 an ounce for the December contract on Comex. Silver is down $0.37 to $20.36 for December. Copper is down $0.02 at $3.15 a pound. Oil is down $0.81 at US$93.03 a barrel for December light crude in New York.
