Following a week of steep falls the Australian share market looks to rebound after Wall Street recovered overnight. US stocks climbed close to 2 per cent after the US Federal Reserve suggested it would continue to adopt a cautious approach to lifting rates. The central bank’s September meeting minutes also highlighted concerns about global growth and a strengthening US dollar.
Closer to home Australia’s official September jobs report will be closely watched amid expectations the jobless rate has risen to 6.2 per cent. The figures will come after August’s report showed job creation soared by a record 121,000 and the unemployment rate fell to 6.1 per cent.
Bank of Queensland Limited
(ASX:BOQ) is expected to release its full year financial results and Transurban Group
(ASX:TCL) will hold its annual general meeting.
Recapping Global markets
Wall Street rallied on Wednesday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.6 per cent to close at 16,994, the S&P 500 gained 1.8 per cent to close at 1,969 and the Nasdaq gained 1.9 per cent to close at 4,469.
European markets extended losses on Wednesday: London's FTSE 100 eased 0.2 per cent, France's CAC 40 tumbled 1.3 per cent and Germany's DAX dropped 1 per cent.
Asian markets closed mixed on Wednesday: Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.2 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dipped 0.7 per cent, but China’s Shanghai Composite returned from public holiday’s and rose 0.8 per cent.
Global growth concerns pushed the Australian share market 0.8 per cent lower yesterday: The S&P/ASX 200 index dropped 43 points to close at 5,241 on Wednesday. On the futures market the SPI is 57 points stronger.
Currencies
The Australian dollar at 7:20am was buying $US0.8848, 54.71 Pence Sterling, 95.67 Yen and 69.47 Euro cents.
Economic news due out today
Australian Bureau of Statistics: Labour force figures for September
Company news
Private hospital operator Healthscope Limited
(ASX:HSO) is set to replace online travel booking company Wotif.com Holdings Limited
(ASX:WTF) in the S&P/ASX 200 after the closer of trading on October 15. The news comes after Australia’s competition regulator last week cleared US online travel giant Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE) to takeover Wotif. While Wotif’s removal from the top 200 is still subject to shareholder and final court approval the company said last week it expects to tie up the $703 million deal by the end of the month. Healthscope listed on the ASX in July this year as part of a $3.6 billion float. Shares in Healthscope dipped 0.4 per cent to close at $2.47 on Wednesday, before the announcement was released.
New Zealand based Xero Limited
(ASX:XRO) says it is on track to deliver subscription revenue growth of about 80 per cent over the full 2015 financial year. The cloud-based accounting software company has forecast strong growth to continue for the foreseeable future ahead of releasing its interim report on November 20. Xero says it subscription revenue rose 85 per cent in the six months to September and its global customer base has grown 76 per cent over the past year. The company continues to focus on growing in New Zealand, Australia and the UK and is now also looking to the North American market for opportunities. Shares in Xero fell 2.04 per cent to close at $18.75 on Wednesday, before the announcement was released.
Ex-dividends
Australian Leaders Fund Limited
(ASX:ALF) paying a 6 cent fully franked dividend
Aberdeen Leaders Limited
(ASX:ALR) paying a 1 cent fully franked dividend
Oriental Technologies Investment Limited
(ASX:OTI) paying a 1.9
cent unfranked dividend
TFS Corporation Limited
(ASX:TFC) paying a 3 cent fully franked dividend
UXC Limited
(ASX:UXC) paying a 3 cent fully franked dividend
Commodities
Gold has dropped $6.40 to $US1,206 an ounce for the December contract on Comex.
Silver has slipped $0.17 to $17.06 for December.
Copper has eased $0.04 to $3.00 a pound.
Oil has dipped $1.54 to $US87.31 a barrel for November light crude in New York.
