With slight gains in the US and a weaker session in Europe, the Australian share market looks set to open higher.
In the US, tech stocks have regained ground after heavy losses while the broader market remains cautious in the wake of the International Monetary Fund’s pessimistic growth forecasts.
Global Markets
Wall Street closed slightly higher yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 10 points to close at 16,256, the S&P 500 added 7 points to close at 1,852 and the NASDAQ gained 33 points to close at 4,113.
European markets closed lower : London’s FTSE lost 32 points, Paris lost 11 points and Frankfurt lost 20 points.
Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei lost 202 points, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 220 points, and China’s Shanghai Composite added 39 points.
The Australian share market closed flat yesterday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 3 points down to finish at 5,411. On the futures market the SPI is 24 points up.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 7:20AM was buying $US0.9359 cents, 55.89 Pence Sterling, 95.29 Yen and 67.85 Euro cents.
Economic news due out today
Australian Bureau of Statistics: Housing finance figures for February and international merchandise imports for March
Westpac Banking Corporation-Melbourne Institute: Survey of Consumer Sentiment
Company news
St. Barbara Limited
(ASX:SBM) has been forced to close its Gold Ridge open pit mines in the Solomon Islands. As mentioned last week the gold mines have been inundated by rain and in the last four days the area has received 1,000 millimetres thanks to Tropical Cyclone Ita.
Roads and bridges have been damaged and with the safety of the workers in mind the Gold Ridge Operations have been suspended and all personnel evacuated. St. Barbara shares fell 10.71 per cent yesterday to finish at $0.25
Flinders Mines Limited
(ASX:FMS) have announced the appointment of Ian Gordon as the Company’s new Managing Director. Commencing in the second half of June 2014, Mr. Gordon’s appointment comes as the company moves towards mining at its Pilbara iron ore project, in Western Australia. Mr Gordon is currently the Managing Director and CEO of Australian Gold Producer, Ramelius Resources. Flinders Mines shares fell 7.41 per cent yesterday to finish at $0.025
Ex-dividends today
Brickworks Limited
(ASX:BKW) paying a 14 cent fully franked dividend
Cadence Capital Limited
(ASX:CDM) paying a 5 cent fully franked dividend
TPG Telecom Limited
(ASX:TPM) paying a 4.5 cent fully franked dividend
Ex-dividends this week Katana Capital
(ASX:KAT) paying a 1.5 cent fully franked dividend
Premier Investments
(ASX:PMV) paying a 20 cent fully franked dividend
FFI Holdings
(ASX:FFI) paying a 10 cent fully franked dividend
New Hope Corporation (ASX: NHC) paying a 6 cent fully franked dividend
Commodities
Gold is up $10.80 to $US1,309 an ounce for the June contract on Comex.
Silver is up $0.15 to $20.06 for May.
Copper is up $0.01 at $3.05 a pound.
Oil is up $2.12 at US$102.56 a barrel for May light crude in New York.
