An office worker talks on his phone as he looks the stock board at the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) building in central Sydney June 15, 2012.
An office worker talks on his phone as he looks the stock board at the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) building in central Sydney June 15, 2012. Reuters/Daniel Munoz
  • Sellers have had the edge in early trade on Monday reflecting the weak tone seen in the US and European Markets at the end of last week. European shares were mixed on Friday. Investors continued to watch progress on Greek debt negotiations. European leaders are scheduled to hold an emergency summit on Monday to discuss Greek debt proposals. The FTSEurofirst 300 rose by 0.3% but the German Dax was down by 0.5% while the UK FTSE was up by less than 0.1%. US sharemarkets fell on Friday as investors squared positions ahead of the weekend and Monday's summit by European leaders to discuss the Greek debt situation. The Dow Jones fell by 99.9 points or 0.6% with the S&P 500 index down by 0.5% while the Nasdaq fell from record highs, down 16 points or 0.3%. Over the week the Dow gained 0.6%, the S&P 500 rose 1.7% and the Nasdaq rose by 1.3%.
  • Most ASX sectors fell in the early part of the session led by the Materials and Energy sectors. Base metals and crude oil benchmarks finished mostly lower on concerns that a potential Greek default could hurt commodity demand in Europe. Crude oil benchmarks also fell after Saudi Arabia said on Thursday that it will lift crude oil output if demand increases. Iron ore fell by 0.7% to US$61.36/t (CFR China). NYMEX Light Sweet Crude fell to $59.61 , down 1.4%.
  • In company news , SEEK (SEK)shares slumped after the group lowered forecasts for its second-half financial results. The online jobs provider lowered profit expectations due to matters around an IT upgrade undertaken on TAFE NSW systems. AS a result, SEK said that while it still expects solid growth in revenue, growth in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) is expected to be moderately lower than revenue. Underlying NPAT for the second half is now forecast to be broadly in line with the first half result. In February, after posting a 9% rise first half underlying net profit after tax (NPAT) to $94.1m, SEK said that it expected underlying NPAT in the second half to be moderately greater than H1 FY15and expected solid revenue and earnings growth in the second half. SEK shares were at $14.50 a loss of 12% or $2.00.
  • Financial markets remain wary of Greek debt negotiations. European leaders are scheduled to hold an emergency summit tonight (8.30pm AEST) to discuss Greek debt proposals. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras made a new offer on a reforms package to foreign creditors on Sunday in a bid to break a deadlock. The EUR has strengthened 0.8 per cent to 1.1380/US dollar despite Greece’s debt/default concern and lower bond yields. The strength of the euro implies one of two things - investors have faith that a deal will be reached or they think that the Eurozone is better off without Greece. The Australian dollar is up 0.4 per cent to 0.7785 US.
Tom Piotrowski - Market Analyst (Author)
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