Our market is looking for a 1% jump this morning after global markets shook off the failure of the Doha oil meeting and ended higher.
The ASX 200 futures market had a gain of 53 points inked in at the close of trading – that’s despite a surge in the value of the Aussie dollar to close to 77.50 US cents, a rise of 1.5 cents from its low for the day of just under 76 US cents.
Wall Street surged after early weakness. Major markets closed at their best levels in several months as investors ignored the weaker crude oil prices (which reversed during trading).
The Dow rose 106.70 points, or 0.6%, to close at 18,004.16, the first time it has closed above 18,000 since July 20, when it finished at 18,100.
The S&P 500 added 13.61 points, or 0.7%, to close at 2,094.34, its best close since December 1.
Energy shares, which closed 1.6% higher, had been down 1.3% in early trading as US oil futures prices showed falls of 5% and more.
While lower at the close, energy company shares did rebound strongly from those earlier lows, adding to the rebound in other sectors.
The Nasdaq Composite rose 21.80 points, or 0.4%, to end at 4,960.02, its highest close since the end of December.
US oil futures settled lower, but prices had pared much of their earlier losses following news that production in Kuwait has been more than halved due to a strike.
May West Texas Intermediate crude futures settled at $US39.78 a barrel, down 58 cents, or 1.4% in New York. Prices had suffered a bigger drop earlier, losing by as much as 6.8% to trade as low as $US37.61.
June Brent crude in London’s also recovered much of its early losses to finish down 19 cents, or 0.4%, at $US42.91 a barrel after a $40.10 low.
Oil prices were supported by news of strikes in Kuwait, which had seen the country’s oil production more than halve to around 1.1 million barrels a day from 3 million barrels a day.
European stock markets erased earlier losses and finished higher as investors looked beyond the impact of a failed Doha meeting.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index gained 0.4% to close at 344.20, after trading as low as 338.12 earlier in the day. London’s FTSE 100 index added 0.2% to 6,353.52, while France’s CAC 40 index rose 0.3% to close at 4,506.84. Germany’s DAX 30 index ended 0.7% higher at 10,120.31.
Comex June gold futures in New York closed 40 cents, or less than 0.1%, higher to settle at $US1,235 an ounce. In other metals, Comex May silver lost 6 cents, or 0.4%, to close at $US16.253 an ounce. Comex copper for May delivery gained 1.15 cents, or 0.5%, to end at $US2.1645 a pound.
