IG Markets Morning Prices

Good morning,

On Wall Street overnight, the major US indices finished modestly lower, albeit off their lows as worse-than-expected economic data halted yesterday’s rally. Drug maker Merck weighed on the Dow Jones Industrial Average after it reported problems with its key blood clotting drugs. On a positive note, Spain’s bond auction was successful and Federal reserve chairman Ben Bernanke gave an upbeat outlook for the economy.

The tech-heavy NASDAQ was the best performer, only down 0.1% while both the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2%.

Locally, the ASX 200 is called to open the session 0.3% softer this morning following the overnight weakness

We’re likely to see the majority of weakness come from the materials sector today after the US basic materials sector was the worst performer, down 0.9%. The leads from London won’t help either after base metals all finished lower on the London Metals Exchange and Rio Tinto and BHP fell 0.9% and 1.1% in normal equities trade. BHP’s ADR is calling the locally listed stock 1.2% lower at $45.52. Gold stocks may see some selling too after the precious metal initially traded to US$1391/oz before retreating suddenly to US$1374/oz.

Elsewhere, there’s likely to be weakness among energy and financial names after the US sectors declined 0.3% and 0.4% respectively. Crude oil futures were down 1% to US$91.01 per barrel since our 4.00pm close yesterday.

Among financials, Bank of America fell 1.5% after Citigroup removed the stock from its ‘top 5 list’. Citi maintained its buy rating on the stock but said the near-term performance may be affected by mortgage repurchases and high EPS estimates among analysts. JP Morgan, Wells Fargo and Citigroup were all down between 0.4% and 0.8%.

In summary, it looks like we’re set for a bit of profit taking today following yesterday’s strong move higher and ahead of the weekend. There’s nothing in the way of local economic data but tonight in the US we’ll see Core CPI and retail sales data, which will be very closely watched. If that wasn’t enough, JP Morgan will kick off the bank reporting too.

Market Price at 8:00am AEST Change Since Australian Market Close Percentage Change

AUD/USD 0.9963 0.0012 0.12%
ASX (cash) 4783 -12 -0.26%
US DOW (cash) 11729 -26 -0.22%
US S&P (cash) 1283.2 -3 -0.23%
UK FTSE (cash) 6006 -38 -0.63%
German DAX (cash) 7044 -38 -0.53%
Japan 225 (cash) 10558 -30 -0.28%
Rio Tinto Plc (London) 45.04 -0.39 -0.86%
BHP Billiton Plc (London) 25.23 -0.27 -1.08%
BHP Billiton Ltd. ADR (US) (AUD) 45.52 -0.53 -1.16%
US Light Crude Oil (Feb) 91.01 -0.95 -1.03%
Gold (spot) 1373.2 -12.62 -0.91%
Aluminium (London) 2487.00 -18 -0.72%
Copper (London) 9621.00 -43 -0.44%
Nickel (London) 25624.00 -277 -1.07%
Zinc (London) 2456.00 -5 -0.20%
RBA Cash Rate to be raised by 25bp (Feb) (%) 3.00 -2.0 -2.00%

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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