The Australian share market looks set to end the week in positive territory after US stocks had their biggest one-day rise this year amid a solid read on jobless claims and a robust earnings report from Disney.
US economic news
Wall Street jumped by more than one per cent after weekly jobless claims in the US dropped to 331,000 in the latest week, from 351,000 last week, which was better than expected.
That news had investors confident there will be good news in the all-important official report on the US labour market to be released tonight.
In other economic news, the trade deficit in the US widened a less-than-expected 12 per cent in December on weak export numbers.
Currencies
The Australian dollar has lifted amid that mixed data from the US and comments from European Central Bank president Mario Draghi who played down the threat of deflation in the eurozone. At 8:20AM the Aussie was buying $US89.6 cents, 54.9 Pence Sterling, 91.5 Yen and 65.94 Euro cents.
Figures
Wall Street was buoyant: The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 188 points to close at 15,629, the S&P 500 added 22 points to close at 1,773 and the NASDAQ lifted by 46 points to close at 4,057.
European markets also got a boost from Mario Draghi’s reassurances about deflation: London’s FTSE was up by 100 points, Paris added 70 points and Frankfurt jumped by 140 points.
Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei dropped 25 points, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 154 points, and China’s Shanghai Composite remains closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.
The Australian share market broke its three day losing streak yesterday to close 1.2 per cent higher. The S&P/ASX 200 index closed 61 points up to finish at 5,131. On the futures market the SPI is 37 points higher.
Economic news
The Reserve Bank of Australia will release its statement on monetary policy and, the Australian Industry Group and Housing Industry Association will put out the performance of construction index for January.
Company news
News Corp
(ASX:NWS) is set to deliver its second quarter results today, as the first week of earnings season draws to an end. The newspaper publisher posted a net profit of $US38 million in its first quarter. Shares in News Corp closed 0.06 per cent higher yesterday at $17.20.
The Papua New Guinea Government plans to keep its stake in Oil Search Limited
(ASX:OSH), according to media reports. The Government reportedly plans to raise $1.68 billion to pay off a bond linked to its stake in the company. Shares in Oil Search lifted by a quarter of a per cent yesterday to close at $8.09.
Ex-dividend Westfield Group
(ASX:WDC) will pay 25.5 cents per share unfranked and Westfield Retail Trust
(ASX:WRT) will pay 9.93 cents per share unfranked.
Commodities
Gold is up $0.10 to $US1,257 an ounce for the April contract on Comex. Silver is up $0.14 to $19.94 for March. Copper is up $0.04 at $3.22 a pound. Oil is up $0.53 at US$97.91 a barrel for March light crude in New York.
