The Australian share market is set to head south after Wall Street moved back into negative territory overnight while European markets stayed optimistic as Ukraine tensions receded. With no major US economic news to drive direction American investors focussed on the tech sector with the makers of the “Candy Crush Saga” online video game plunging following its trading debut. Closer to home the miners could be poised for weakness after precious metal prices fell overnight but a stronger iron ore price could offer support.
Global Markets
Wall Street back-flipped into the red on Wednesday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 99 points to close at 16,269, the S&P 500 fell 13 points to close at 1,853 and the NASDAQ fell 61 points to close at 4,174.
European markets ended higher on Wednesday: London’s FTSE gained 0.41 points, Paris gained 41 points and Frankfurt gained 110 points.
Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei added 54 points, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 155 points, and China’s Shanghai Composite lost 4 points.
The Australian share market jumped 0.8 per cent yesterday on the back of US consumer confidence rising to a six-year high: The S&P/ASX 200 Index surged 40 points on Wednesday to finish at 5,377. On the futures market the SPI is 33 points down.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar continues to run higher and defy the odds. At 7:20am the local currency was buying $US0.9227 cents, 55.66 Pence Sterling, 94.07 Yen and 66.93 Euro cents.
Company news Westfield Group’s
(ASX:WDC) proposed restructure has received a boost with the shopping centre giant securing $22 billion in funds to finance the plan. The announcement comes just one week after the company inked a deal to sell three of its UK shopping centres for more than $1 billion as it repositions its portfolio. Westfield Group plans to merge its Australian and New Zealand business with Westfield Retail Trust
(ASX:WRT). The new entity to be known as Scentre Group and the international business of Westfield Group will become Westfield Corporation. Shares in Westfield Group dropped 0.29 per cent on Wednesday to close at $10.20.
Automotive Group Holdings Limited
(ASX:AHE) has raised about $115 million through a placement to fund its latest acquisitions. Earlier this week the automotive retailing and logistics group announced it will spend $116 million to buy Scott's Refrigerated Freightways. The company will also spend $68 million to purchase New South Wales car dealership Bradstreet Motor Group. Automotive Group Holdings is also set to launch a share purchase plan shortly which will be capped at $10 million. Shares in Automotive Group Holdings jumped 5.56 per cent on Wednesday to close at $3.80.
Ex-dividends AP Eagers Limited
(ASX:APE) paying a 15 cent fully franked dividend
Lycopodium Limited
(ASX:LYL) paying a 5 cent fully franked dividend
OrotonGroup Limited
(ASX:ORL) paying a 8 cent fully franked dividend
STW Communications
(ASX:SGN) paying a 5.3 cent fully franked dividend
Supply Network Limited
(ASX:SNL) paying a 4 cent fully franked dividend
Commodities
Gold is down $8.00 to $US1,303 an ounce for the April contract on Comex.
Silver is down $0.20 to $19.78 for May.
Copper is down $0.04 at $2.90 a pound.
Oil is up $1.07 at US$100.26 a barrel for May light crude in New York.
