The Australian equity market is expected to start the month in the green after US stocks continued to rally for the fourth session running session pushing the Dow back into positive territory for 2011.
The Dow finished with a gain of 53.58 points to close the month at 11613.53 while the S&P500 index gained 5.97 points to finish at 1218.89, led by financial and utility stocks.
Economic data really helped the equity markets stay in green territory overnight with the weak Chicago area manufacturing managed to beat expectations and then data showed U.S. factory orders for July rose more than economists had forecast.
USDCHF traded down from highs at the beginning of the European session of0.8177 to as low as 0.7995. The Swiss is seeing some strength as expectations declined that the Swiss National Bank will intervene to restrict its currency.
The EURUSD traded down from highs 1.4470 overnight to trade as low as 1.4358 ahead of the eagerly awaited nonfarm payroll numbers out tomorrow night as investors search for clues about the health of the U.S. economy.
WTI Oil futures (see above chart) traded near a two day low overnight after the biggest monthly drop since after the impact of a sharp rise in oil inventories in the Energy Department weekly report was blunted by a drop in gasoline stockpiles.
Gold futures rose in US trade as the view that further monetary easing would boost precious metals outweighed the drag from stronger equities markets.
INDICES
Last Traded
SPI 200 future 4318
S&P500 Index 1218.90
Dow Jones 11613.53
FTSE 100 Index 5394.53
COMMODITIES
Last Traded
Gold 1831.70
Oil (Nymex) 88.72
CURRENCIES
Last Traded
AUDUSD 1.0688
EURUSD 1.4373
GBPUSD 1.6250
USDJPY 76.69
Source
Bloomberg, Dow Jones News