Following generally positive leads from the US, the Australian share market looks set to regain some ground at the open of trade after yesterday’s losses.
In the US overnight optimism flowed from the Federal Reserve chair signalling an optimistic outlook for the US economy and closer to home today, we await ABS labour force figures and overseas arrivals and departures for March.
National Australia bank is also expected to release its first half results later today.
Global Markets
Wall Street closed mixed yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 118 points to close at 16,519, the S&P 500 added 10 points to close at 1,878 and the NASDAQ lost 13 points to close at 4,068.
European markets closed mixed: London’s FTSE lost 2 points, Paris gained 18 points and Frankfurt gained 54 points.
Asian markets closed lower: Tokyo’s Nikkei lost 424 points, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 230 points, and China’s Shanghai Composite lost 18 points.
The Australian share market closed down yesterday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 46 points down to finish at 4,436. On the futures market the SPI is 29 points up.
Currencies
Australian Dollar at 7:20AM was buying $US0.9326 cents, 55 Pence Sterling, 94.97 Yen and 67 Euro cents.
Company news
Yellow Brick Road Holdings Limited
(ASX:YBR) has moved to acquire Vow Financial.
The wealth management company sees the purchase of the Vow mortgage aggregator business as an opportunity to become a leader in the ‘non-bank’ segment, as well as offering access to over 700 mortgage broker groups. Shares in Yellow Brick Road closed flat yesterday at $0.64.
Paladin Energy Limited
(ASX:PDN) has completed its winter infill drilling program at the Michelin deposit in Labrador, Canada.
The uranium miner’s 13 drilling holes all intersected mineralization and filled key gaps in the company’s mineral resource data. Shares in Paladin Energy closed 1.18 per cent lower yesterday at $0.42
Ex-dividends
Alcoa
(ASX:AAI) paying a 3 cent unfranked dividend.
Commodities
Gold is down $19.70 to $US1,289 an ounce for the June contract on Comex.
Silver is down $0.30 to $19.34 for May.
Copper is down $0.02 at $3.03 a pound.
Oil is up $1.27 at US$100.77 a barrel for June light crude in New York.
