Australia dollar just below parity, Google shares surge on profit result: Economy Roundup

The Australian dollar just failed to reach parity with the US dollar overnight, with the dollar hitting a new record high of 99.94c before retreating slightly in morning trade.

While parity remains likely in the coming days, and the dollar is at its highest point in 27 years, predicting when exactly the dollar will break through the big barrier is not easy.

A swag of fresh data on the US economy, due to be released overnight, could push things either way.

“We have a lot of US data tonight and that will stop the market getting too excited,” HiFX trading director Mike Hollows told AAP.

Google shares soar

Meanwhile, Google shares have jumped 9% on Wall Street overnight after the company surprised the market with a better than expected profit result.

Revenue in the third quarter soared by 25%, jumping from $US4.38 billion in the third quarter of 2009 to $US5.48 billion. This was well in front of analyst expectations of $US5.27 billion.

The company posted net profit of $US2.17 billion in the third quarter, with pay-per-click revenue jumping 16% year-on-year.

The company’s shares are now worth $US590.

Australian shares lower

The Australian sharemarket fell in morning trade, dragged down by falls among the major banks. The benchmark ASX/S&P 200 Index was down 0.6% or 26.2 points to be at 4672.9 points at 12:10 AEST.

Wesptac and ANZ shares fell by 1%, while NAB shares were down 0.9% and Commonwealth shares dropped 0.3%.

Wesfarmers, BHP Billiton and News Corp all posted falls, while Telstra and Woolworths shares bucked the trend and rose slightly.

Overnight, Wall Street closed flat despite Google’s strong performance. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.01% to 11,094.57, while the Nasdaq Composite shed 5.85 points, or 0.24%.