The local share market looks set to open higher this morning following a positive lead from Wall St overnight and higher commodities.
US stocks gained after investors cheered some better than expected earnings results, signs of improvement in the housing sector and positive auto sales for January.
The National Association of Realtors pending home sales index rose 1% after falling 16.4% the month before.
And the major automakers including Ford Motor, General Motors and Nissan all reported solid sales results for the month of January.
In earnings results home builder D.R. Horton posted its first quarterly profit in almost three years, and package shipper UPS forecast a sharp increase in earnings for 2010.
Checking the figures, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 111 points to 10,297. The S&P500 Index added 14 points to 1,103 and the NASDAQ is 19 points higher at 2,190.
To other international markets, European markets were also higher. London’s FTSE gained 36 points, Paris rose 50, and Frankfurt is up 55 points.
Asian markets closed mixed yesterday with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng up 28 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei advanced 166 however China’s Shanghai Composite fell 7 points.
Back to the local market now and Aussie stocks closed higher on Tuesday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index finished 81 points stronger at 4,605 and on the futures market the SPI200’s up 54 points.
On to currencies: the Aussie Dollar at 8:45AM was buying 88.65 US cents, 80.17 Yen, 63.52 Euro cents and 55.52 Pence Sterling.
In economic news: The Australian Industry Group/Commonwealth Bank January services index is to be released today, as well as the ABS December trade report, and the Housing Industry Association - RP Data September quarter residential land report.
In company news about this morning: Shares in global miner Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) gained 5.34% to just over $71 yesterday. Rio is reportedly close to making a decision to recommence work developing its underground Argyle diamond mine in Ausralia. Rio started to develop an underground diamond mine at Argyle in 2006 but put work on hold last year after facing heavy debt and plummeting commodity prices. The mining giant’s chief executive for diamonds and minerals Harry Kenyon-Slaney has told the Dow Jones Newswires that the company has been encouraged by the recovery in the diamond market in recent months and says Rio is looking at when to restart the mines development again. Rio reported profit of $5.3 billion for the 2008 year.
Shares in engineering, construction and contracting company WDS Ltd (ASX:WDS) plunged 54.45% to $0.69 yesterday. The company has issued a profit warning saying it now expects to report net profit after tax of $7 million for fiscal 2010. This compares to its forecast in October 2009, for profit of between $22 million and $24 million for the year. Despite this the company says it continues to have a high level of confidence in its strategic positioning across its targeted market sectors and is well placed within each of the sectors to capture growth. WDS reported a profit of $20.34 million for the 2009 financial year. Taking a look at ex-dividends: While there are no company’s going ex-dividend today, coming up on Friday is Australian Foundation Investment Company with an 8 cent fully franked dividend.
To commodities: Gold rose $13.20 to US$1,118.20 an ounce for the April contract on Comex. For the March contract silver gained 8 cents to US$16.74 and copper is up a cent at US$3.09.
The price of oil gained $2.88 to US$77.31 a barrel for March light crude in New York.
