Despite broadly positive leads from overseas markets the Australian Share Market looks to open flat as reporting season winds down and the focus shifts back to economic data.
Overseas, US markets will remain closed on Monday due to the Labor Day public holiday. On Friday, US stocks finished a strong month with slight gains.
Figures
Wall Street closed up on Friday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lifted 0.1 per cent to close at 17,098 the S&P500 is up 0.3 per cent to close at 2,003 and the Nasdaq raised 0.5 per cent to close at 4,580.
European markets all closed higher: London’s FTSE is up 0.2 per cent, Paris lifted 0.3 per cent and Frankfurt is up 0.08 per cent.
Asian markets are mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei is down 0.2 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed flat and China’s Shanghai Composite rose 0.9 per cent.
The Australian share market closed 1.5 points higher on Friday to finish at 5,626. The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed the week 20 points lower.
On the futures market the SPI is 2 points down.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 7:30AM was buying 93.30 US cents, 56.26 Pence Sterling, 97.21 Yen and 71.09 Euro cents.
Economic news
Plenty of economic news due out today including the RP Data-Rismark house prices, the monthly inflation gauge and the AIG performance of manufacturing.
Company news
Sino Gas & Energy Holdings Limited
(ASX:SEH) has secured a US$50 million debt facility from Macquarie Bank. The money will be used to develop the company’s stake in production sharing contracts located in China. Chairman of Sino Gas, Gavin Harper says the company is ‘well positioned to fund its development share of the PSCs towards early production and overall development plan submissions and start the transition to becoming a significant gas producer’. The PSCs are located in the Ordos basin, the second largest onshore oil and gas producing area in China with significant pipeline infrastructure to major markets. Shares in Sino Gas & Energy Holdings Limited
(ASX:SEH) closed 4.26 per cent up on Friday to finish at 24.5 cents.
Yowie Group Limited
(ASX:YOW) is continuing its strong push into America despite reporting a net loss of $6.4 million for the 2014 financial year. Yowie Group holds an exclusive patent for the sale of a Kinder Surprise style chocolate-encapsulated toy in the US. Yowie has been expanding its US distribution network and is currently in talks with Hollywood to develop an animated feature film featuring the Yowie characters. Yowie Group is also targeting major retailers in the US and hopes its aggressive strategy will start to pay off soon. Shares in Yowie Group Limited
(ASX:YOW)) closed 2.16 per cent up on Friday at 71 cents.
Commodities
Gold is down $3.30 to $US1,287 an ounce for the December contract on Comex. Silver is down $0.12 to $19.49 for December. Copper is up $0.02 at $3.16 a pound. Oil is up $1.41 at US$95.96 a barrel for October light crude in New York.
Fortescue Metals Group
(ASX:FMG) 0.10
Fully-franked
Fleetwood Corporation
(ASX:FWD) 0.02
Fully-franked
HFA Holdings Limited
(ASX:HFA) 0.054
Un-franked
Infomedia Limited
(ASX:IFM) 0.019 Fully-franked
STW Communications Group Ltd
(ASX:SGN) 0.033
Fully-franked
Select Harvests Limited
(ASX:SHV) 0.09
Un-franked
Spark Infrastructure Group
(ASX:SKI) 0.058
Un-franked
Toll Holdings Limited
(ASX:TOL) 0.15
Fully-franked
Tatts Group Limited
(ASX:TTS) 0.055
Fully-franked
Villa World Group
(ASX:VLW) 0.09
Fully-franked
