Following a weak finish on Wall Street the Australian share market is eyeing a steady start ahead of domestic growth figures due before noon. US stocks dipped overnight as fiscal cliff negotiations continued in order to avert automatic tax hikes and spending cuts which could come into effect within weeks. Locally eyes will be on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) numbers with expectations the Australia economy expanded by up to 0.7 per cent in the third quarter.
Figures
Wall Street finished Tuesday in negative territory: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 14 points to close at 12,952, the S&P500 lost 2 points to close at 1,407 and the Nasdaq lost 6 points to close at 2,997.
European markets ended mixed on Tuesday: London’s FTSE lost 2 points, Paris added 14 points added Frankfurt ended in the red.
Asian markets also closed mixed on Tuesday: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 32 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei lost 26 and China’s Shanghai Composite added 15 points.
The Australian share mark extended the weekly decline after the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) cut Australia’s key cash rate to 3 per cent yesterday: The S&P/ASX 200 index fell 28 points or 0.6 per cent to finish at 4,504. On the futures market the SPI is 7 points higher.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 8:20AM was buying $US1.047 cents, 65.07 Pence Sterling, 85.74 Yen and 79.98 Euro cents.
Economic news due out today The Australian Bureau of Statistics: National accounts, including Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the September quarter
Australian Industry Group-Commonwealth Bank of Australia
(ASX:CBA): Performance of Services Index for November
Company news Bank of Queensland Limited
(ASX:BOQ) has cut its rates by 20 basis points, falling shy of the RBA’s 25 basis point rate cut yesterday. The Brisbane based regional lender has lowered its variable interest rates by 0.2 percentage points to 6.51 per cent, effective from December 21, 2012. CEO Stuart Grimshaw says the move provides a balance between customers with homes loans and customers with deposits. The Big Four Banks are yet to announce any action following the RBA’s decision. Shares in Bank of Queensland firmed 0.14 per cent on Tuesday to finish at $7.00.
Ten Network Holdings Limited
(ASX:TEN) is reportedly gearing up to raise $225 million, despite CEO James Warburton ruling out the move less than two months ago. According to Fairfax Media the deeply discounted rescue capital raising will see new shares sold at about 20 cents and supported by major shareholders including Gina Rinehart, James Packer and Lachlan Murdoch. The report says Ten’s stock is expected to be placed into a trading halt today and the proceeds from the capital raising expected to pay down debt. Shares in Ten Network Holdings fell 2.99 per cent on Tuesday to finish at $0.325.
Ex-dividends today
Collins Foods Limited
(ASX:CKF) with a 4 cent fully franked dividend
Lemarne Corporation Limited
(ASX:LMC) with a 7 cent unfranked dividend
Ex-dividends this week
Asian Centre For Liver Diseases
(ASX:AJJ) with a 0.3 cent unfranked dividend
Technology One Limited
(ASX:TNE) with a 3.48 cent, 85 per cent franked dividend
Sky Network Television Limited
(ASX:SKT) with a 37.65 cent unfranked dividend
Commodities
Gold is down $25.30 to $US1,696 an ounce for the February contract on Comex.
Silver is down $0.95 to $32.81 for March.
Copper is down $0.003 at $3.66 a pound.
Oil is down $0.59 at $US88.50 a barrel for January light crude in New York.
