The Australian sharemarket gained for the third time in 5 sessions, with the ASX 200 index (XJO) up 0.2 pct or 7.6 pts to 4508.1 while the broader All Ordinaries index (XAO) rose 0.1 pct or 3.6 pts to 4565. The market has gained by around 0.3 pct over the week, however has slumped by close to 4.5 pct in June so far.

Both the volume and value of shares traded today was significantly higher than the typical daily average due to equity derivatives expiring yesterday.

Strength from the both the big banks and the largest listed miners helped lift the market into positive territory. The S&P/ASX 200 Financials index rose 0.58 pct or 24.5 pts to 4219.1. Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) gained 1.27 pct or 64 cents to $51.13, Westpac (WBC) jumped 1.14 pct or 24 cents to $21.37, National Australia Bank (NAB) ended 0.82 pct or 20 cents to $24.66 and ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) closed slightly higher by 0.09 pct or 2 cents to $21.47.

The S&P/ASX Materials index rose 0.35 pct or 45.9 pts to 13042.2. Australia’s 2 largest miners, BHP Billiton (BHP) and RIO Tinto (RIO) ended a little higher. BHP is the world’s biggest resource company and is almost 4 times as large as its closes competitor, RIO. RIO has acquired the remaining shares in Riversdale Mining today, taking its ownership of the coal company to 99.76 pct. BHP rose 0.71 pct or 30 cents to $42.34 while RIO gained 0.5 pct or 40 cents to $80.40.

Australia’s largest telco, Telstra (TLS) has fallen to its lowest level in a month despite securing an $11 billion deal for work with the National Broadband Network (NBN Co.) yesterday. TLS shares fell 2.7 pct or 8 cents to $2.88 and has fallen more than 4 pct this week.

Singapore Telecom (SGT), the owner of Optus has gained 3.5 pct this week and signed an $800 million deal signed with the Australian government.

Australia’s largest airline, Qantas Airways (QAN) gained 1.94 pct or 3.5 cents to $1.83 after domestic flights resumed. Flights to and from New Zealand are still cancelled however for both QAN and Virgin Blue (VBA) due to the Chilean ash cloud.
QAN’s budget arm Jetstar has lost around $10 million in revenue and costs due to the flight cancellations. VBA rose 3.57 pct or 1 cent to 29 cents.

As is the case on most Fridays, there was no economic data released and next week is also gearing up to be a relatively quiet week.

Next Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of Australia’s Assistant Governor, Guy Debelle will be delivering a speech on financial stability; however the latter part of the week is expected to contain the majority of releases. The latest reading on job vacancies, private sector credit and home prices for May will all be out on Thursday. On Friday, June’s manufacturing reading and data on the number of new homes sold last month will be out.
Sharemarkets in the Asian region gained strongly today with China’s Shanghai Composite the standout after rising by just over 2 pct.

Japan released the latest reading on the change in price of services purchased by Japanese businesses. There was a bigger than expected fall of 0.9 pct in May. The Bank of Japan (Japan’s central bank) said that the biggest fall in company expenditure was in the transportation sector where there was a significant pullback in the number of ships transporting goods both into and out of Japan. There was also a slight fall in industrial machinery leasing and the renting out of computer equipment and commercial machinery.

The U.S based automaker which was sold off to Italian firm Fiat in 2009 due to financial troubles, has made its plans to continue its Chinese expansion clear today. Chrysler already has 127 dealerships across China and said today it plans on adding another 50 over the next few years. There were around 13 million cars sold in China over the past 12 months.

In Europe, the results from the latest business confidence survey will be released later on tonight out of Germany. This consists of conducting a survey of over 7,000 German businesses and asking them for their opinions when it comes to the economy at present and what they foresee for the future.

It is also the second day of the European Union’s Economic Summit tonight. Last night it seems the economic unrest in Greece overshadowed a broader discussion on the European economy and its immigration policy. Greece has been granted a fresh €120 billion bailout overnight; however it still needs to make it past the European parliament next week.

Italy’s statistics bureau, Istat will release its latest retail sales reading which is expected to fall by 0.1 pct. Retail spending throughout Italy has remained stagnant over the past 12 months.

Last night in the U.S, there was a 2.1% fall in the number of new homes sold to 319,000 over the past 12 months. The median price of new homes rose from $217,000 to $222,600 while the median price in Australia is sitting at around $420,000.

Commodity price fell last night with the price of oil falling by 4.5 pct to US$91 barrel, its lowest level since February this year.

This comes after the International Energy Agency (IEA) confirmed that it will release emergency oil reserves for only the third time on record. These are records going back to the early 1970s.

Back in the 1970s the reserve was created after the Arab oil embargo. The oil is stored in 62 underground salt caverns more than 1000 metres deep in the Southern states of the U.S.

There is an official oil inventory reading on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve’s (SPR) website. There currently are around 726 million barrels of emergency oil across the U.S. That is approximately enough oil to supply Australia with its oil needs for around 2 years.

Oil was expecting to have been formed from the remains of plants and animals over millions of years in the ocean. Both sand and silt covered their remains over time and with the help of both heat and pressure, crude oil was formed.

In the U.S tonight, first quarter (January to March 2011) growth figures will be out at around 10.30pm (AEST) tonight and the market is expecting that the U.S economy has probably expanded by around 1.9 pct over the past year.

The U.S Census Bureau will announce the latest figures on the number of durable goods orders received in May. These are monthly figures which measure the number of orders which are received by manufacturers. Durable goods are products which do not wear out quickly such as fridges, furniture and machinery.

The volume of shares traded came in at 2.31 billion today, worth $7.56 billion. 509 shares were up, 653 finished weaker and 399 ended unchanged.

At 4.30pm AEST on the Sydney Futures Exchange, the ASX24 futures contract is down 0.22 pct or 10 pts to 4497.

Most major European markets trade between 5pm (AEST) and 1.30am (AEST). Futures in Europe are pointing to a slightly stronger start to trade tonight.

Dow Jones futures are also a higher, indicating that U.S shares will start in the black when American markets open at 11.30pm (AEST).

Turning to currencies, the Australian dollar is a little weaker and buys US105.2cents, JPY84.73 and EUR73.9 cents.

The best performing stock on the market today was Blaze International (BLZ), which rose 50 pct or 0.1 cent to 0.3 cents. BLZ is a Western Australian based minerals explorer with a market capitalisation of $2.2 million

Have a wonderful weekend.