Wall St makes modest gains, investors await Federal Reserve meeting: Aus shares to open flat

Australian shares are poised for a lacklustre start following modest gains on Wall Street overnight. Stocks rose slightly on Monday led by gains in tech as investors await the Federal Reserve meeting this week. Facebook and Netflix were among the best performers up 4.2 and 3.2 per cent respectively.

Meantime, gold prices fell further on Monday after sliding from a more than 14 month high the previous session following positive US retail data that dampened expectations the Federal Reserve would cut rates. Oil prices were also lower after weak economic data out of China added to concerns of a slowing worldwide oil demand.

Local economic news

Today the Reserve Bank’s Head of Financial Stability, Jonathan Kearns will deliver a speech and the ABS releases the Residential Property Price figures.

Markets

Wall Street closed slightly higher yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.1 per cent to 26,113, the S&P 500 gained also 0.1 per cent to close at 2890 and the NASDAQ closed 0.6 per cent higher at 7845.

European markets closed mixed: London’s FTSE edged up 0.2 per cent, Paris added 0.4 per cent and Frankfurt fell 0.1 per cent.

Asian markets closed higher,Tokyo’s Nikkei closed almost flat, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 0.4 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite added 0.2 per cent.

Returning home, the SPI futures are up 1 point. Yesterday, the Australian share market closed 23 point or 0.4 per cent lower at 6531.

Company news

Independence Group (ASX:IGO) subsidiary, Independence Newsearch has inked an earn in and joint venture Agreement with Classic Minerals over its Fraser Range tenements. Key commercial terms include Initial cash payment to Classic of $300,000, Independence can also elect to earn a 51 per cent interest in the project by expending $1.5 million on exploration over two years. Under the agreement, Independence will continue to advance the Fraser Range Project allowing Classic to focus exploration efforts on its emerging high-grade Kat Gap Gold Project in Western Australia. Shares in Independence Group (ASX:IGO) closed1.75 per cent lower at $4.50 yesterday.

Currencies

One Australian Dollar at 7:40AM was buying 68.55US cents, 54.70Pence Sterling, 74.43 Yen and 61.11 Euro cents.

Commodities

Iron Ore futures suggest a 1.2 per cent fall.
Gold has dropped$1.40 to US$1343an ounce.
Silver was up $0.02 to US$14.82 an ounce.
Oil fell $0.60 to US$52.17 a barrel.