Outlook: Aus shares likely for lower start November 12, 2010 09:09 AM

Aussie shares look to be in for a slightly lower start, following Wall St falling on technology giant, Cisco System’s weak outlook which pulled tech stocks down. And, European debt concerns continued to weigh on markets.

On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 74 points lower at 11,283. The S&P 500 Index closed 5 points weaker at 1,214 and the NASDAQ fell 23 points to close at 2,556.

European stocks were mixed: London’s FTSE down 2 points, Paris is down 21 and Frankfurt up 4.

To Asian markets, stocks were higher: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 200 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei was up 31 points and China’s Shanghai Composite up 32.

The Australian share market finished higher on Thursday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 29 points stronger to 4,729 and on the futures market the SPI200 is 8 points lower.

Turning to currencies: At 8:40am this morning the Aussie is buying 99.74 US cents, 61.88 Pence Sterling, 82.32 Yen and 73.02 Euro cents.

In local economic news: Due out today the Reserve Bank of Australia’s credit and debit card data for September.

In company news: Shares in Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX:CBA) closed 0.98% higher at $48.55 on Thursday. Commonwealth Bank has come out in defense of its CEO Ralph Norris, the Australian Associated Press reporting that Mr Norris was misquoted over comments made on interest rate rises. According to AAP, following the bank’s decision to raise its standard variable interest rate last week Mr Norris was asked if he expected more home foreclosures as a result of the rake hike, and Mr Norris responded with the words “a few”. However, Commonwealth bank says these words were incorrectly taken out of context and published, which gave a completely untrue representation of Mr Norris’s position. The Commonwealth Bank earned a $5.68 billion profit in the 2010 fiscal year.

Yesterday Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) shares closed 1.35% firmer at $87.36. Denise Goldsworthy, managing director of Rio Tinto’s Dampier Salt Ltd, has been recognised with a national award. Yesterday Ms Goldsworthy was named Australian Business Woman of the Year at Telstra’s 2010 awards. In her current role Ms Goldsworthy heads the world’s largest exporter of solar salt, delivering earnings of US$129 million in 2009. Rio Tinto posted a profit of over $7.3 billion in the first half of this year.

To ex-dividends: Three companies are going ex-dividend today, they are Bank of Queensland with a 26 cent fully franked dividend, GEO Property Group with a 1.5 cent unfranked dividend and National Australian Bank with a 78 cent fully franked dividend.

To commodities: The price of gold is up $US4.00 to $US1403 an ounce for the December contract on Comex, silver is up $US0.54 to $27.40 and copper is up $0.05 at $4.02 a pound. The price of oil is steady at $87.81 a barrel for December light crude in New York.

 

Daily Share Report – andre di cioccio

Outlook: Aus shares look to open higher November 08, 2010 08:33 AM

Aussie shares look to open higher this morning, the futures pointing to a positive start, following Wall St lifting on its fifth consecutive day. US stocks responded well to last week’s economic stimulus, midterm elections and a better than expected jobs report.

In US economic news: On Friday, The Labor Department showed that the US created 151,000 jobs in October, much higher than was expected. While the unemployment rate was steady at 9.6 per cent.

On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 9 points higher at 11,444. The S&P 500 Index closed 5 points higher at 1,226 and the NASDAQ closed 2 points higher at 2,579.

European stocks were mixed: London’s FTSE up 13 points, Paris is steady and Frankfurt up 20.

To Asian markets, stocks were higher: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 341 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei was up 267 points and China’s Shanghai Composite up 43.

The Australian share market finished higher on Friday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 55 higher to 4,801 and on the futures market the SPI200 is up 18 points.

Turning to currencies and the Aussie Dollar at 7:45AM was buying 1.015 US cents, 62.73 Pence Sterling, 82.56 Yen and 72.4 Euro cents.

In local economic news: Out today, the ANZ job advertisements series for October.

Company News: Shares in Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX:CBA) closed 0.53% lower at $48.88 on Friday. Amid rising consumer backlash, Commonwealth’s CEO Ralph Norris has defended the bank’s rate rise, hitching its mortgage rates by 45 basis points straight after the RBA’s rise last week. Speaking to The Age Mr Norris says it was a situation the bank had been stalling for many, many weeks, and a move he did not regret. Prime Minister Julia Gillard has responded to the public outcry by issuing her own defence against inaction, foreshadowing a package of measures to be released this week by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission that is expected to address unreasonable mortgage exit fees. Commonwealth improved its profit from $4.8 billion last year to $5.7 billion in the 2010 financial year.

Shares in Qantas Airways Ltd (ASX:QAN) slid 1.04% to closed at $2.86 at the end of last week. Following last week’s grounding of the airline’s fleet of Airbus A380 superjumbos, Qantas has discovered three more issues with the Rolls-Royce jet engines on its grounded fleet. It is now increasingly unlikely that the issue will be resolved in the 48 hours that CEO Alan Joyce first signalled, according to a Fairfax report. Qantas spokesperson Simon Rushton has not detailed the exact nature of the problems, nor if the engines are being looked at for the same matter. Rather, Mr Rushton has told the paper the issues might apply to different components and that the airline is taking an ultra-conservative approach to the investigation. Qantas posted a $116 million profit in the 2010 fiscal year, falling from a profit of $123 million the year before.

To ex-dividends: There are six companies going ex-dividend today, among them we have Macquarie Group with an 86 cent unfranked dividend and Westpac with a 74 cent fully franked dividend. Coming up tomorrow is CSR with a 3 cent fully franked dividend.

To commodities: and the price of gold is up US$14.60 to US$1397 an ounce for the December contract on Comex, silver is up US$0.71 to $26.75 and copper is up $0.04 at $3.95 a pound. The price of oil is up $0.36 to US$86.85 a barrel for December light crude in New York.

Outlook: Aus shares tipped to open higher November 01, 2010 08:18 AM – andre di cioccio

The Australian share market is tipped to open higher today, while Wall St finished steady on Friday, US investors cautious ahead of an expected announcement on economic stimulus due from the Federal Reserve this Wednesday and the upcoming US midterm elections.

In US economic news: On Friday the Commerce Department showed gross domestic product lifted as expected in the third quarter at a two per cent annual rate, while not enough to lower hopes of more quantitative easing from the Fed. Investors will also be closely looking at the Government’s October jobs report due this Friday.

On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 5 points higher at 11,118. The S&P 500 Index closed down half a point at 1,183 and the NASDAQ closed steady at 2,507.

European stocks were steady: London’s FTSE down 3 points, Paris is down 1 and Frankfurt up 6.

To Asian markets, stocks were lower: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 115 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei was down 164 points and China’s Shanghai Composite down 14.

The Australian share market finished lower on Friday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 23 lower to 4,662 and on the futures market the SPI200 is up 17 points.

Turning to currencies and the Aussie Dollar at 7:40AM was buying 98.54 US cents, 61.41 Pence Sterling, 79.17 Yen and 70.58 Euro cents.

In local economic news: Due out today the Reserve Bank of Australia’s index of commodity prices for October, the Australian Bureau of Statistics house prices indexes for eight capital cities in September and the TD Securities-Melbourne Institute inflation gauge for October.

In company news: BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) closed 0.17% softer at $41.92 on Friday. BHP is ramping up its base metals division, the global miner telling BusinessDay that it will invest $US350 million into copper exploration over the next four to five years. The investment could triple BHP’s copper base, with the miner advising growth will be driven by several prospects at its flagship Escondida copper mine in Chile. In other BHP news, there is speculation this morning that the miner is getting ready to boost its $40 billion hostile bid for PotashCorp, following regulatory approval expected this week from the Canadian government. BHP Billiton reported a net profit of $15.26 billion in the 2010 financial year.

Shares in Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX:TLS) closed 1.48% lower on Friday at $2.67. Australia’s largest telecommunication company has priced its National Broadband Network deal at around $16 billion, well above the more widely used figure of $11 billion. According to The Australian the valuation was suggested in the telco’s submission to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Telstra is currently negotiating with the regulator how much it could charge rivals using its network, in a deal that would see Telstra become the National Broadband Network’s largest customer. Telstra posted a $3.94 billion profit in fiscal 2010.

To commodities: and the price of gold is up US$15.10 to US $1357 an ounce for the December contract on Comex, silver is up US$0.69 to $24.56 and copper is down $0.05 at $3.73 a pound. The price of oil is down $0.75 to US$81.43 a barrel for December light crude in New York.