IG Markets: Morning Prices

In the US on Friday, markets pared losses late in the session to close higher after a massive week in economic and political developments. The week was marked by Republican gains in Congress, the Fed’s decision to pump more money into the economy and a surprisingly strong non-farm payrolls jobs report.

For the session, the S&P 500 was the top performer, rising 0.4% while both the NASDAQ and Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.1%.

Locally, the ASX 200 is called to open the session a modest 0.1% higher at 4803 following the relatively flat session on Wall Street.

We could see some buying support among financial names after the US financial sector was by far the standout performer, jumping 2.3% following the news on Thursday the Fed may let ‘healthy’ banks lift their dividend payments. However, local bank names will likely be on the back foot early as both Westpac and Macquarie trade ex-dividend, taking roughly 10.6 points out of the index.

Material names will likely be flat to slightly positive after the US sector shrugged off weaker leads from the London Metals Exchange where base metals were all down between 0.7% and 1.4%. Both Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton finished higher in the normal London session, gaining 0.9% and 0.8%. BHP’s ADR is calling the locally listed stock 0.1% firmer at $45.33.

Elsewhere, the energy, industrial and consumer discretionary names all finished higher, up between 0.5% and 0.6% respectively.

In summary, it looks like a relatively quiet start to the week following last week’s huge data load. In terms of economic data, the only release of note is the ANZ jobs ads survey due at 11.30am.

In foreign exchange trade, Friday’s stronger-than-expected non-farm payrolls report saw the beleaguered US dollar index firm, rising 0.9%. Subsequently, the euro saw the most selling pressure, declining to the low 1.40 region as sovereign yields in Ireland, Portugal and Greece remained very elevated and could continue to drag on the euro. The USDJPY and GBPUSD saw smaller falls of 0.7% and 0.5% while the AUDUSD rose a modest 0.1% to be trading around the 1.0149 level.

Market Price at 8:00am AEST Change Since Australian Market Close Percentage Change
AUD/USD 1.0154 0.0004 0.04%
ASX (cash) 4803 3 0.06%
US DOW (cash) 11417 -7 -0.06%
US S&P (cash) 1224.8 5 0.40%
UK FTSE (cash) 5886 -3 -0.05%
German DAX (cash) 6759 7 0.10%
Japan 225 (cash) 9688 27 0.28%
Rio Tinto Plc (London) 43.46 0.41 0.94%
BHP Billiton Plc (London) 24.50 0.20 0.82%
BHP Billiton Ltd. ADR (US) (AUD) 45.33 0.06 0.13%
US Light Crude Oil (Dec) 87.40 0.21 0.24%
Gold (spot) 1393.6 4.0 0.29%
Aluminium (London) 2450 -31 -1.25%
Copper (London) 8675 -59 -0.68%
Nickel (London) 24475 -276 -1.12%
Zinc (London) 2530 -35 -1.36%
RBA Cash Rate to be raised by 25bp (Dec) (%) 7.00 -1 -1.00%

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