Local shares appear set to open slightly higher, bouncing in the wake of Thursday's selling, as positive economic data as well as Best Buy and Intel lift Wall Street.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
What you need2know:
• SPI futures up 13 pts at 5330
• AUD at 86.29 US cents, 101.88 Japanese yen, 68.80 Euro cents and 55.00 British pence
• In late trade, S&P 500 +0.1%, Dow +0.1%, Nasdaq +0.5%
• In Europe, Euro Stoxx 50 -0.7%, FTSE -0.3%, CAC -0.8%, DAX +0.1%
• Spot gold rises 0.8% to $US1192.54 an ounce
• Iron ore adds 1.1% to $US70.97 per metric tonne
• Brent oil up 1.5% to $US79.24 per barrel
What’s on today
Australia speech by RBA economics official Alex Heath at Mining Industry Conference; New Zealand credit card spending; Eurozone consumer confidence.
Stocks to watch
Retailers Myer, David Jones, JB Hi-Fi, Harvey Norman.
Fast fashion jewellery retailer Lovisa closed its institutional bookbuild on Thursday afternoon, ahead of an ASX listing.
Deutsche Bank has dropped the price target for Programmed Maintenance to $3.20 a share, but maintained a “buy” recommendation.
Morningstar has a “hold” on Breville Group with a “high” fair value uncertainty and a $7 a share fair value price. “While earnings to date were not quantified, performance has been consistent with management’s expectations.
Currencies
Westpace, the economy’s most-accurate forecaster, has said the $A is set to rise well above its current value. The bank predicted the Aussie will climb to US88¢ next month, to US90¢ in June, then US92¢ at the end of next year.
Commodities
Tin was the biggest mover on the LME, jumping 3.6 per cent to finish at $US20,295 a tonne, after touching the highest in over a month, although activity was thin at only 447 lots.
Swiss chemicals group Ineos announced plans to invest $US1 billion in shale gas exploration in Britain, hoping to emulate the US shale boom in one of few European countries to endorse controversial fracking technology.
Goldman Sachs Group has rebutted allegations made by a powerful US Senate committee report that condemned Wall Street banks for exploiting physical commodity markets to manipulate prices and gain unfair trading advantages.
United States
Stocks on Wall Street edged higher in afternoon trade as data showed further strength in the US economy.
Tech shares helped to lead the day's gains after Intel's revenue outlook for 2015 was above Wall Street's expectations and the company also raised its dividend. Intel shares climbed 3.8 per cent to $US35.65, giving a boost to all three major indexes.
Factory activity in the US mid-Atlantic region grew at its fastest pace in two decades, US home resales jumped to their highest in more than a year in October, and a gauge of future US economic activity gained.
Growth in the economy and earnings should bode well for stocks heading into next year, said Margaret Patel, senior portfolio manager at Wells Capital Management. "Next year will be a reasonable to maybe a surprisingly good year," she said. "(There is) no reason in the world why we can't see P/Es expand." Patel, who spoke at Reuters Global Investment Outlook Summit Thursday, said stocks could rise by a mid single-digit to high-teens percentage next year.
Europe
European shares fell on Thursday as weaker than expected euro zone manufacturing data added to worries about the outlook for growth and triggered a sell-off in southern European stocks.
Data showed that the private sector in Germany grew at its slowest pace in 16 months, and in France a slight pick-up was overshadowed by the fastest drop in new orders in more than a year. “There has been a little bit of relief in markets recently, but I think this will create another round of fears that the euro zone is losing momentum,” said Emile Cardon, a euro zone strategist at Rabobank.
What happened yesterday
The year’s gains on the sharemarket have been wiped out after another poor day driven by slumping iron ore prices. A flat finish on Wall Street on Wednesday gave investors no direction and the market headed downwards from the opening bell, with the sell-off accelerating in late trade.
The broader All Ordinaries Index finished 1 per cent lower at 5316.2 while the benchmark ASX 200 dropped 1 per cent to 5302.5.