After making gains yesterday the Aussie share market looks set to contract after a selloff in the US and Europe overnight. Potentially devastating geopolitical tension has seen a retreat towards the safe haven of gold with a Malaysian Airlines passenger jet crashing in the Ukraine and a ground offensive pushing into Gaza.
Further weakness came from a 9.3 per cent drop in US home construction in June as reported by the US Commerce Department overnight.
Figures
Wall Street closed lower yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1 per cent to close at 16,977, the S&P 500 also lost 1 per cent to close at 1,958 and the NASDAQ lost 1 per cent as well to close at 4,363
European markets closed lower: London’s FTSE lost 0.7 per cent, Paris lost 1 per cent and Frankfurt is down 1 per cent.
Asian markets closed lower : Tokyo’s Nikkei lost 0.06 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.01 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite is down 0.6 per cent.
The Australian share market closed higher yesterday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 4 points up to finish at 5,522. On the futures market the SPI is 30 points down.
Turning to currencies and the Australian Dollar at 7:30AM was buying $US0.9347 cents, 54.67 Pence Sterling, 94.56 Yen and 69.12 Euro cents.
Company news
Shares in Sedgman Limited
(ASX:SDM) jumped almost 7 per cent on the news it’s been awarded a $64 million contract with Fortescue Metals.
The project management company will design and construct a modular iron ore processing plant at the Solomon mine in Western Australia. CEO Peter Watson says this is the company’s first major iron ore project and is a significant milestone in its diversification strategy. Shares in Sedgman closed 6.67 per cent up yesterday at $0.56
David Jones Limited
(ASX:DJS) will be delisted from the ASX after its $2.2 billion takeover was approved by the Federal Court of Australia.
The department store was given the green light for its takeover by South African retailer, Woolworths. The court orders are expected to be lodged with ASIC today and the company will then apply for its shares to be suspended from trading on the ASX at the close of today’s trade. Shares in David Jones closed 0.25 per cent up yesterday at $3.99
Commodities
Gold is up $17.10 to $US1,317 an ounce for the August contract on Comex.
Silver is up $0.42 to $21.20 for September.
Copper is up $0.006 at $3.22 a pound.
Oil is up $1.99 at US$103.19 a barrel for August light crude in New York.
Ex-dividends Ask Funding Limited
(ASX:AKF) paying $0.0425 cents, fully franked.
