Higher oil, gold and Wall Street share prices will see the local market start with a solid gain of more than 30 points later this morning.
In fact it was a record breaking day on the major Wall Street markets and that will help our market start with a gain of 34 points according to trading on the ASX futures market.
Iron ore prices fell under $US70 a tonne – $US69.80 for Steel Index prices – lower for a couple of others (just over $US65).
The Dow Jones Industrial Average became the latest gauge to strike a record high, rising 0.5% to 18,956.83 and surpassing its previous record on November 14.
The move comes as the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite also clocked in new highs 2,198.19 (up 0.75%) and 5,368.86 (up 0.9%) respectively. The rally was led by the energy sector, which jumped sharply thanks to higher oil prices on the back of renewed hope of some sort of deal from OPEC.
Both Brent Crude and West Texas Intermediate rose more than 4% to hit near three weeks highs amid renewed optimism that Opec members will be able to agree on a production cut at its November 30 meeting in Vienna.
Gold rose, as did copper, but silver again fell.
The rise in oil prices saw “commodity currencies” such as the Canadian dollar, Norwegian krone and Russian ruble rise against the greenback. The Aussie dollar edged higher to around 73.60 after touching an overnight low of 73.11 US cents.
US bond yields eased, but the key 10 year rate remains well above 2.3%.
After gold futures slid to their lowest finish since February on Friday, they rebounded fitfully overnight to end around 0.1% higher, or $US1.10 at $US1,209.80 an ounce. Gold was around $US1,211 in early Asian trading.
Comex December copper rose 4.8 cents, or 1.9%, to $US2.515 a pound, while Comex December silver ended down by 10.3 cents, or 0.6%, on Monday at $US16.521 an ounce.
Oil futures added roughly 4% on growing expectations that the OPEC will be able to reach a final agreement next week to curb crude output. Vladimir Putin, president of non-OPEC Russia, also reportedly voiced his country’s willingness to freeze production.
December West Texas Intermediate crude rose $US1.80, or 3.9%, to settle at $US47.49 a barrel in New York on the contract’s expiration day. January WTI crude which is now the front-month contract, settled at $US48.24, up $US1.88, or 4.1%.
In London, January Brent crude rose $US2.04, or 4.4%, to $US48.90 a barrel.
