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The Australian share market will start the new week and trading month with a series of economic developments to absorb. After recovering 4.4 per cent over the month of October the SPI is pointing to a positive start following global market gains but commodity price falls.
Japan’s surprise stimulus announcement on Friday buoyed the nation’s benchmark almost 5 per cent and pushed Wall Street to new records. The developments came ahead of China reporting, over the weekend, its slowest manufacturing growth in five years in October.
China will also today release non-manufacturing figures while a series of local economic reports are also due ahead of tomorrow’s Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) interest rate call. On the company front Westpac Banking Corporation (ASX:WBC) will announce annual results and Woolworths Limited (ASX:WOW) will unveil quarterly sales.
Global markets
Wall Street advanced 2.7 per cent over the week and extended gains on Friday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.1 per cent to close at 17,391, the S&P 500 gained 1.2 per cent to close at 2,018 and the Nasdaq gained 1.4 per cent to close at 4,631.
European markets rallied 2.1 per cent over last week and widened gains on Friday: London's FTSE 100 climbed 1.3 per cent, France's CAC 40 climbed 2.2 per cent and Germany's DAX climbed 2.3 per cent.
Asian markets rose over the week and surged on Friday as the Bank of Japan boosted its stimulus program: Japan’s Nikkei soared 4.8 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 1.3 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite jumped 1.2 per cent.
The Australian share market advanced 0.9 per cent on Friday and lifted over last week: The S&P/ASX 200 index advanced 50 points on Friday, widening the weekly gain of 114 points to finish the month of October at 5,527. On the futures market the SPI is 8 points higher.
Currencies
The Australian dollar at 7:30am was buying $0.874, 54.75 Pence Sterling, 98.7 Yen and 69.93 Euro cents.
Economic news due out today
Australian Bureau of Statistics: Building approvals for September
ANZ Banking Group (ASX:ANZ): Job advertisements series for October
TD Securities-Melbourne Institute: Inflation gauge for October
Australian Industry Group: Performance of manufacturing (PMI) index for October
RP Data: Core Logic Home Value Index for October
Reserve Bank of Australia: Index of commodity prices for October
Company news
Westpac Banking Corporation (ASX:WBC) will continue a run of banking results today with its annual financial report. Analysts have tipped the bank’s cash profit to have grown 5 per cent to almost $7.5 billion. The results will come after ANZ Banking Group (ASX:ANZ) booked a record cash profit of $7.1 billion on Friday, representing 10 per cent growth. The Big Four Banks together look to have generated combined profits of more than $28 billion over the 2014 financial year. Shares in Westpac Banking Corporation rose 0.93 per cent to end last week at $34.78.
National Australia Bank Limited (ASX:NAB) says analysis of its channels has shown tomorrow’s Melbourne Cup is indeed the race that stops the nation. The bank reports a massive drop in activity between 2pm and 4pm on the first Tuesday of November and has described the fall as an incredible change in normal activity. Over the two hour period desktop logins for NAB’s banking channel have fallen on average 60 per cent and mobile logins have fallen 40 per cent. Last week NAB booked a cash profit of $5.2 billion, sinking 10 per cent on the back of weakness from its US arm. Shares in National Australia Bank rose 1.01 per cent to end last week at $34.99.
Ex-dividends
Brickworks Limited (ASX:BKW) paying a 28 cent fully franked dividend
Bank of Queensland (ASX:BOQ) paying a 34 cent fully franked dividend
Commodities
After dropping about $US36 over last week the price of gold has widened losses by $32.30 to $US1,172 an ounce for the December contract on Comex.
Silver has fallen $0.31 to $16.11 for December.
Copper has dropped $0.003 to $3.05 a pound.
Oil has lost $0.58 to $US80.54 a barrel for December light crude in New York.
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