Good morning,
Risk assets were well bid in the European session on Friday, but a reversal in US trade saw most of these gains erased.
AUD/USD raced to a high of 1.05193 as commodities were bought up, but soon dropped back to 1.045 in US trade. EUR/USD
endured some volatility, oscillating around 1.30 before settling a touch below 1.30. There was just no significant
catalyst to keep driving markets higher in US trade and they went back into consolidation mode. Focus seems to have
switched to Spain now following the Financial Times report suggesting that EU officials are working with the Spanish
government behind the scenes for a new rescue programme for Spain. However, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in no
rush to introduce a banking union while French President Francois Hollande feels it should be done as soon as possible,
it already seems like there is tension at the top in Europe. This week is going to be an important one on the European
front with Spain reportedly looking to unveil an economic reform programme on Thursday.
Ahead of the open, we are calling the Aussie market down 0.2% at 4398. We head into the last trading week of the quarter
with the ASX 200 around 7.5% higher. It will be interesting to see if we can hold on to this gain with some of the
euphoria around the Fed and ECB waning. Risk currencies have had a fairly flat morning and haven’t given much indication
of a change in sentiment from Saturday’s close. There is nothing major on the local economic calendar to look out for
today. With China’s economy still not showing strong signs of a rebound as evidenced by last week’s PMI number, market
participants will continue to monitor the wires for any comments by Chinese officials.
On a stock level, we expect a softer start for BHP Billiton with its ADR suggesting it will be down 0.7% at the open to
$33.48. Iron prices dropped back to $106.40 and this might also impact the iron ore giants. Gold related stocks will be
interesting to watch after the precious metal spiked to a high of $1787 on Friday. Some of the gold stocks which have
had a good run lately and deserve some attention are Medusa Mining, Regis Resources and OceanaGold. Medusa is presenting
at a HSBC Global Natural Resources Conference in Singapore. Nufarm has reported its full-year earnings today and Premier
Investments has had some broker re-ratings following its big profit jump last week.
MarketPrice at 8:00am AESTChange Since Australian Market ClosePercentage ChangeAUD/USD1.0448-0.0024 -0.23%ASX (cash)4398-10 -0.23%US DOW (cash)13569-66 -0.48%US S (cash)1455.6-6.7 -0.46%UK FTSE (cash)5838-42 -0.71%German DAX (cash)743310 0.13%Japan 225 (cash)9105-6 -0.06%Rio Tinto Plc (London)30.42-0.36 -1.15%BHP Billiton Plc (London)19.570.02 0.08%BHP Billiton Ltd. ADR (US) (AUD)33.48-0.22 -0.67%US Light Crude Oil (November)92.95-0.10 -0.10%Gold (spot)1772.00.6 0.04%Aluminium (London)211660.28%Copper (London)8282120.15%Nickel (London)181752801.56%Zinc (London)211660.28%
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.
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ENDS