Finance news you need to know today

EMBATTLED retailer Surfstitch is looking at selling assets as costs mount from several legal proceedings and an investigation by ASIC.

THE Australian market looks set to open flat, unimpressed by moves on Wall Street where the Dow Jones Industrial Average lifted but the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.6 per cent. At 0700 AEST on Friday, the share price futures index was down two points, or 0.03 per cent, at 5,718.

Meanwhile, the Australian dollar has fallen sharply against its US counterpart which was boosted by data showing a 6.5 per cent rise in durable goods, beating expectations of a 3.9 per cent lift. The local currency was trading at 79.67 US cents at 0700 AEST on Friday, from 80.37 on Thursday.

WORLD FINANCE UPDATE:

WASHINGTON, DC — Honda Motor Co says a Takata airbag inflator ruptured in car crash last week in Florida, in what could be the 19th death worldwide linked to faulty airbags recalled as part of the largest automotive safety campaign in history.

BERLIN — German Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt has announced a recall of Porsche 3-litre Cayenne cars after finding illegal emissions controlling software in the vehicles.

FRANKFURT — Volkswagen’s profits have risen in the first half of the year as the German car maker benefited from increased sales in a growing European economy and it moved past one-time costs for its diesel emissions scandal in the US.

TOKYO — Nissan Motor profit has dipped in the last quarter despite strong sales because of rising costs and slowing growth in China, the Japanese car maker says.

SEOUL — Samsung Electronics appears set to log record annual profit for 2017 as exploding use of data in mobile devices and the “memory super cycle” help it surmount the jailing of its de facto leader and sidestep losses from its fire- prone Galaxy Note 7s.

NEW YORK CITY — Apple Inc will discontinue the iPod Shuffle and iPod Nano, the last two music players in the company’s line-up that cannot play songs from Apple Music, its streaming service that competes with Spotify and Pandora Media Inc.

WASHINGTON, DC — Amazon.com Inc chief executive Jeff Bezos has unseated fellow tech billionaire Bill Gates as the richest person in the world, profiting from the e-commerce company’s meteoric stock rise to reach a fortune of $US90.6 billion ($A113.7 billion), Forbes reports.

THURSDAY HIGHLIGHTS:

MACQUARIE — Macquarie Group expects to make another annual profit of around $2.2 billion despite the impact of the federal government’s new bank levy.

FORTESCUE — Fortescue Metals is targeting a further reduction in costs this financial year but expects to keep its iron ore shipments steady.

ELECTRICITY ANZ — Soaring electricity prices are becoming a drag for Australia’s weakened retail sector, with the latest round of increases likely to further crimp consumer spending, a new ANZ report says.

COLES — Rising living costs and low wage growth are forcing many households to swap healthy food for cheaper packaged goods in a “disastrous” trend, Coles supermarket boss John Durkan says.

KOGAN — Online retailer Kogan.com continues to expand beyond televisions and appliances, adding insurance to its business.

AURIZON — Aurizon has outlined fresh impairments of $606 million with its intermodal and bulk transport divisions continuing to face challenging market conditions.

SURFSTITCH — Embattled online sport clothing retailer Surfstitch is looking at selling assets as costs mount from several legal proceedings and an investigation by ASIC.

GUD — The owner of the Oates cleaning product brand made a loss of $7.3 million in 2016/17 due to the impact of the sale of two underperforming businesses.