Australian market set to open lower

THE Australian market looks set to open lower after Wall Street has a lacklustre day, with only the Dow Jones Industrial Average in positive territory in late trading.

At 0700 AEDT on Thursday, the share price futures index was up down 15 points at 5,57,55 points.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average the Dow Jones Industrial Average held slight gains, but the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were in negative territory after the release of Federal Reserve’s latest meeting minutes showed that many of the central bank’s policymakers said it may be appropriate to raise interest rates “fairly soon”.

Locally, in economic news on Thursday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics releases December quarter private new capital expenditure and expected expenditure figures, as well as average weekly earnings data. In equities news, Qantas, Crown Resorts, Village Roadshow, Westfield Corp, Ardent Leisure, Vodafone Hutchison, Iluka Resources, Nine Entertainment Co, Southern Cross Media Group and Ramsay Health Care are among the companies expected to post results on Thursday.

The Australian market on Wednesday closed higher helped by well-received earnings reports from Woolworths, Coca-Cola Amatil and private hospital operator Healthscope.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index rose 14.1 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 5,805.1 points.

The broader All Ordinaries index added 14.7 points, or 0.25 per cent, to 5,850.1 points.