MARKET CLOSE (4.30pm AEDT)

The Australian sharemarket kicked off the new trading week in positive fashion with the All Ordinaries index (XAO) rising by 1.1 pct or 47.3 pts to 4311.4. All sectors improved today with the exception of the consumer staples. Weakness from Wesfarmers (WES) put downward pressure on the remainder of the sector. WES, the owner of Coles supermarkets is the largest company in the consumer staples space.

The S&P/ASX 200 Energy index (a measure of stock performance in the energy sector) rose 2.15 pct or 288 pts to 13707.3. Australia's second largest oil and gas producer, Woodside Petroleum (WPL) gained 1.51 pct or 48 cents while the smaller Santos (STO) ended 3.2 pct or 41 cents higher to $13.22. At the end of last week, leaders across Australia agreed to put together a set of national regulations for the controversial coal seam gas sector.

The S&P/ASX 200 Financials index (a measure of stock performance in the financial sector) rose 1.25 pct or 50.1 pts to 4062.9. The four major banks gained strongly with Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) the best of the day up 2.03 pct or 99 cents to $49.83. National Australia Bank (NAB) ended 1.42 pct or 34 cents higher to $24.36, Westpac (WBC) gained 1.04 pct or 22 cents to $21.29 and ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) edged higher by a more modest 0.48 pct or 10 cents to $20.95. ANZ is the worst performing major bank on the Australian sharemarket so far in the 2011 calendar year.

The S&P/ASX 200 Materials index (a measure of stock performance in the mining sector) rose 1.04 pct or 115.6 pts to 11268.6 today. The world's largest miner, BHP Billiton (BHP) jumped 1.87 pct or 67 cents to $36.53 while RIO Tinto (RIO) gained 0.61 pct or 39 cents to $64.13. BHP is more than four times as large as RIO in terms of market capitalisation (number of shares on issue multiplied by current share price).

Australia's largest airline, Qantas (QAN) held a strategy day today. There was a lack of significant announcements regarding its new Asian operations and the company's ongoing industrial relations battle. QAN is still holding on to its 85 pct market share of the Australian corporate market. QAN shares fell 0.31 pct or 0.5 cent to $1.58 today. Its competitor Virgin Australia (VBA) now has a new ticker code of VAH. The Virgin Australia name has now replaced the previous Virgin Blue name across the whole airline. VAH shares improved by an impressive 4.48 or 1.5 cents to 35 cents today.

The Federal government awarded a number of military contracts today as part of a $7.5 billion project to improve Australia's armed vehicles. A German company called Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles is expected to start negotiations to supply as many as 2,700 vehicles to the Australian military.

Prime Minister Gillard reshuffled the front bench and decided to keep Kevin Rudd on as foreign minister.

Last week was a big one for the Australian sharemarket and economy. The XAO fell by 1.89 pct and a number of economic reports were issued throughout the week. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) decided to cut interest rates by 25 bps (0.25 pct) for the second straight month to 4.25pct, the local economy continues to grow albeit relatively modestly, the national unemployment rate edged higher to 5.3 pct and contrary to expectations there were 6,300 jobs lost in November (the market was expecting an additional 10,000 jobs to be have been created).

On the economic front today, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released both the latest monthly report on housing finance (the number of loans issued to people buying properties) and the country's latest trade balance (the difference between exported and imported goods. The number of new owner-occupier housing loans (people living in the homes they have borrowed money to purchase) rose by 0.7 pct in October. Australia's trade surplus narrowed to $1.595 billion in October.

Commsec Economist, Savanth Sebastian said that "The latest improvement in overall housing activity is encouraging especially given that it signifies seven consecutive months of improving activity levels - albeit off a low base. And while approvals are virtually flat since the start of the year there have been signs that the housing sector has bottomed out, and is now showing signs of a modest improvement."

He commented on the trade surplus also and said that "The trade data continues to confirm that Australia is paying its way in the world. The dollars keep flowing in, ensuring that Australia has notched up its 18 trade surplus in 19 months, totalling over $34 billion."

In Europe last week, the European Central Bank (ECB) decided to cut interest rates from 1.25 pct to 1 pct while the Bank of England (the British central bank) kept rates at 0.5 pct. This is the lowest level for U.K interest rates since the 1690s. Ratings agency Moody's downgraded the debt ratings of three French banks last weekend. This included a one notch downgrade to Aa3 for both BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole. Societe Generale's long term debt was cut by one notch to A1.

The European leaders met on Thursday and Friday last week for the eighth time this year to discuss the debt crisis. The majority of European Union (EU) states seemed a little upset with the British, as it was first time in almost 40 years for a British Prime Minister to use a veto against a European agreement.

Some progress was still made in the meeting with 23 of the 27 European states/countries likely to push for a new treaty. The Eurozone's two most important leaders, Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merckel have already agreed in the past that by the end of March 2012, they would like all European Union members to comply with new fiscal rules. This would include tougher penalties if a nation's debt spirals out of control in the form of sanctions.

One of the problems that remain is how to change a country's culture to fit a 'unified' community such as the EU. For example, Greece seems to have a culture in which a number of citizens do not pay taxes in full. Greece has the highest percentage of self-employed citizens in all of Europe. Investors are currently demanding a return of 29.9 pct to lend the Greek government funds. This is a clear indication of how likely the market considers a Greek default to be.

The Irish government owes around 390,000 Euros (approximately AU$510,000) to foreign lenders for each Irish citizen. One of the main reasons that Ireland finds itself in trouble is the fact that a few of its banks were out of control when lending property developers billions of dollars over a number of years. This resulted in a huge property bubble with a significant oversupply of homes and a number of banks needing to be nationalised due to irresponsible lending. Unfortunately, much of the bill is now left to the Irish consumer who had little to do with the crisis. It currently costs the Irish government around 8.34 pct to borrow funds (via bonds).

There is no major economic data scheduled for release in Europe tonight.

In the U.S, the latest Federal Budget Balance will be issued at 6am (AEDT). This measures the difference in value between the American government's income and expenses during November. Another huge deficit of around US$138 billion is expected by the market. The U.S spends more on its military/defence than any other country and it is one of its biggest expenses together with social security and healthcare.

The volume of shares traded came in at 1.74 billion today, worth $3.76 billion. 562 shares were up, 388 finished weaker and 384 ended unchanged.

At 4.30pm AEDT on the Sydney Futures Exchange, the ASX24 futures contract is up 1.67 pct or 70 pts to 4259.

Due to daylight savings, most major European markets are now trading between 7pm (AEDT) and 3.30am (AEDT). Futures in Europe are pointing to a stronger start to trade.

Dow Jones futures are currently flat, indicating that U.S stocks could start in relatively unchanged tonight when American markets open at 1.30am (AEDT). Due to the Americans going back an hour on November 5, U.S markets will be trading between 1.30am (AEDT) and 8am (AEDT).

Turning to currencies, the Australian dollar (AUD) is a little weaker and buys US101.6 cents.

Steven Daghlian, CommSec Market Analyst

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e: 13��fn�����normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; ">Some progress was still made in the meeting with 23 of the 27 European states/countries likely to push for a new treaty. The Eurozone's two most important leaders, Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merckel have already agreed in the past that by the end of March 2012, they would like all European Union members to comply with new fiscal rules. This would include tougher penalties if a nation's debt spirals out of control in the form of sanctions.

One of the problems that remain is how to change a country's culture to fit a 'unified' community such as the EU. For example, Greece seems to have a culture in which a number of citizens do not pay taxes in full. Greece has the highest percentage of self-employed citizens in all of Europe. Investors are currently demanding a return of 29.9 pct to lend the Greek government funds. This is a clear indication of how likely the market considers a Greek default to be.

The Irish government owes around 390,000 Euros (approximately AU$510,000) to foreign lenders for each Irish citizen. One of the main reasons that Ireland finds itself in trouble is the fact that a few of its banks were out of control when lending property developers billions of dollars over a number of years. This resulted in a huge property bubble with a significant oversupply of homes and a number of banks needing to be nationalised due to irresponsible lending. Unfortunately, much of the bill is now left to the Irish consumer who had little to do with the crisis. It currently costs the Irish government around 8.34 pct to borrow funds (via bonds).

There is no major economic data scheduled for release in Europe tonight.

In the U.S, the latest Federal Budget Balance will be issued at 6am (AEDT). This measures the difference in value between the American government's income and expenses during November. Another huge deficit of around US$138 billion is expected by the market. The U.S spends more on its military/defence than any other country and it is one of its biggest expenses together with social security and healthcare.

The volume of shares traded came in at 1.74 billion today, worth $3.76 billion. 562 shares were up, 388 finished weaker and 384 ended unchanged.

At 4.30pm AEDT on the Sydney Futures Exchange, the ASX24 futures contract is up 1.67 pct or 70 pts to 4259.

Due to daylight savings, most major European markets are now trading between 7pm (AEDT) and 3.30am (AEDT). Futures in Europe are pointing to a stronger start to trade.

Dow Jones futures are currently flat, indicating that U.S stocks could start in relatively unchanged tonight when American markets open at 1.30am (AEDT). Due to the Americans going back an hour on November 5, U.S markets will be trading between 1.30am (AEDT) and 8am (AEDT).

Turning to currencies, the Australian dollar (AUD) is a little weaker and buys US101.6 cents.