IG Markets Morning Prices

Good morning,

On Wall Street overnight, US stocks hit fresh multi-year highs on their way to another positive session as strength among energy and material names helped offset a worse-than-expected Q4 result from Citigroup. After the bell, IBM and Apple smashed expectations. Sentiment was also boosted by a pledge by European finance ministers to support the region.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and tech-heavy NASDAQ were the best performers, both up 0.4%. The S&P 500 could only manage a gain of 0.1%.

Locally, the ASX 200 is called to open the session 0.2% higher at 4813, above the psychologically important 4800 level. Looking across the sectors and it looks like most of the gains are likely to come from the energy, material and industrial sectors.

The US industrials sector was the best performer, adding 0.7% thanks to strong gains among Boeing and Caterpillar. The material and energy sectors both managed gains of 0.6% in US trade. Materials leads from London were constructive with base metals mostly higher on the London Metals Exchange and both Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton jumping 15% and 1.4% respectively in normal equities trade following the strong quarterly production numbers from Rio Tinto. Not surprisingly, BHP Billiton’s ADR is calling the locally listed name 0.5% higher at $45.85 on the open.

Despite a relatively flat session for Crude Oil, energy names in the US were boosted by a demand upgrade from the International Energy Agency (IEA); ExxonMobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips were all up more than 0.5%.

On the downside, the financial sector might drag following a fall of 0.6% on Wall Street following the weaker-than-expected result from banking giant Citigroup. It fell more than 6.4% and weighed on other big names with Wells Fargo, JP Morgan and Bank of America all weaker by more than 0.4%.

In summary, it looks like we’re going to see a tug-of-war between commodities based strength and some selling in the financials space. The risk is likely to be to the upside too after US futures rose approximately 0.5% following the IBM and Apple releases. On the economic front, Westpac Consumer Sentiment will be in focus at 10.30am

In currency markets, the AUDUSD pushed higher as risk appetite rose. It’s currently trading around the 0.9990 level. The euro had a good session on the back of the encouraging comments from the finance ministers meeting. It’s trading at 1.3385, up from session lows of 1.3252.

Market Price at 8:00am AEST Change Since Australian Market Close Percentage Change
AUD/USD 0.9980 0.0037 0.37%
ASX (cash) 4813 11 0.23%
US DOW (cash) 11844 66 0.56%
US S&P (cash) 1296.6 5 0.42%
UK FTSE (cash) 6073 64 1.07%
German DAX (cash) 7153 69 0.97%
Japan 225 (cash) 10575 38 0.36%
Rio Tinto Plc (London) 44.50 0.66 1.49%
BHP Billiton Plc (London) 25.02 0.35 1.42%
BHP Billiton Ltd. ADR (US) (AUD) 45.85 0.23 0.51%
US Light Crude Oil (Feb) 92.14 -0.05 -0.05%
Gold (spot) 1367.6 2.78 0.20%
Aluminium (London) 2452.00 12 0.49%
Copper (London) 9680.00 50 0.52%
Nickel (London) 26080.00 150 0.58%
Zinc (London) 2440.00 -16 -0.65%
RBA Cash Rate to be raised by 25bp (Feb) (%) 3.00 -1.0 -1.00%
IG Markets provides round-the-clock CFD trading on currencies, indices and commodities. The levels quoted in this email are the latest tradeable price for each market. The net change for each market is referenced from the corresponding tradeable level at yesterday’s close of the ASX. These levels are specifically tailored for the Australian trader and take into account the 24hr nature of global markets.

Please contact IG Markets if you require market commentary or the latest dealing price.

ENDS

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