Sydney, Oct 19, 2007 (ABN Newswire) -
Australian shares are expected to fall today, with financial firms such as Macquarie Bank seen resuming declines after disappointing earnings from a big U.S. bank reignited worries about credit markets. But energy firms, led by Woodside Petroleum could gain after oil prices extended gains towards $90 a barrel.
Yesterday, the S&P/ASX200 is up 88 points to 6,768. On the future's market the SPI200 is down 21.
Turning to currencies, at 8:50AM the Aussie dollar was buying 89.63 US cents, on the crosses, the dollar is buying 103.59 yen, 62.72 Euro cents, and 43.87 British pence.
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http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/6E00S2USShares in Australian travel firm Flight Centre are up 4.40 per cent to $23.97. The company is considering an equity raising of up to $100 million to fund a range of overseas acquisitions. The Financial Review reports Flight Centre is talking with investment banks about the share issue, which is likely to be conditional on it closing advanced negotiations to buy corporate travel firms in the US. The company has also upgraded its earnings guidance, just a few months after rejecting a private equity joint venture with Pacific Equity Partners. Flight Centre's best profit result over the past five years was in 2007.
Shares in Australian uranium miner Paladin Resources are up 1.74 per cent to $7.59. The company says it expects to produce 900thousand pounds of uranium in 2007, adding that output could reach around 2-and a half million pounds in 2008 and a million pounds higher in 2009. It comes as uranium miners aim to meet rampant global demand sparked by interest in atomic energy, but prices are expected to remain strong due to tight markets. Paladin Resources has been in the red since 2005.
To international markets, US markets struggled on Thursday on renewed economic worries. The Dow Jones Industrials closed 4 points lower, the S&P500 down 1 point and the Nasdaq composite ended higher, up 7 points.
European stocks were weaker. London's FTSE down 68; Paris fell 52, and Frankfurt was down 64.
To Asian markets, where Hong Kong's Hang Sang gained 166; Tokyo's Nikkei was up 151; and China's SSE Composite shed 211.
Back to the US, gold was up $6.40 to $768.70 cents for the spot contract on Comex. Silver rose 5 cents to $13.80, copper lost 5 cents to $3.54.
And finally, oil ending $2.07cents stronger to $89.47 US a barrel for November light crude in New York.
Source: Finance News Network © 2007
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