The Australian share market is set to open in positive territory, as Wall Street recovers from a six day slide and commodities also gained ground.
US
The number of Americans filing for their first week of unemployment benefits rose to 427,000, up 1,000 from the week before.
Europe
The European Central Bank kept its main interest rate at 1.25 per cent and the Bank of England left its key interest rate unchanged at a record low of 0.50 per cent.
Figures
On Thursday, The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 75 points to close at 12,124, the S&P500 rose 9 points to close at 1,289 and the NASDAQ gained 9 points to close at 2,685.
European stocks were higher: London’s FTSE up 47 points, Paris up 41 and Frankfurt also gained 99 points.
To Asian markets and stocks were mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 52, Tokyo’s Nikkei rose 18 points and China’s Shanghai Composite down 47.
The Australian share market rose on Thursday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 13 points to close at 4,550. On the futures market the SPI is 21 points higher.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 7:40AM was buying $1.0632 US cents, 64.96 Pence Sterling, 85.48 Yen and 73.28 Euro cents.
Company News
Yesterday shares in Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) rose 0.24 per cent to close at $79.79. A deal has been done between Rio and rail workers in the Pilbara, bringing unions back to the region for the first time in almost twenty years. It’s the end of an era for Rio, the miner had insisted up until now to deal directly with its workforce through individual contracts. That’s according to The Australian. The collective agreement covers 400 iron ore rail workers on a four-year deal. In the twelve months to December 31, 2010, Rio Tinto reported a net profit of $14.9 billion.
On Thursday shares in Treasury Group Ltd (ASX:TRG) ended the day 1.25 per cent lower at $3.95. Treasury Group has appointed a new successor to chief executive Mark Burgess who will step down on June 24. Former Macquarie banker Andrew McGill will head up the boutique funds management company. Mr McGill worked in mergers and acquisitions at Macquarie and will take up his new role in mid-July. He has an ongoing contract with a base salary of $450,000 and a short term incentive of up to 100 per cent of the base salary. For the half year ended December 31, 2010, Treasury Group reported a net profit of $5 million.
Ex-dividends
Troy Resources is going ex-dividend today with a fully franked dividend of $0.04, joined by Tower with an unfranked dividend of $0.03.
Commodities
Gold is up $4.00 to $US1,542 an ounce for the August contract on Comex, silver is up $0.80 to $37.42 for July and copper is flat at $4.11 a pound. Oil is up $1.19 at $101.93 a barrel for July light crude in New York.