The Australian market is heading for a solid opening today.
Iron ore rose for yet another day and US shares finished the day with a bit of a rush, only to fade right at the end of trading.
The Nasdaq managed hit an all time closing high and the S&P 500 nudged its all time high during the day.
Oil prices also nudged higher to new 2015 highs, while gold futures prices rebounded from the month lows hit on Wednesday to end around $US1,193 an ounce.
The Australian market reacted positively to the news and will start trading around 30 points higher, according to the futures trading overnight. The Aussie dollar edged higher and ended around 77.80 US cents.
The Kiwi dollar was the big loser on the night, dropping sharply to end under 76 US cents and well away from parity with the Aussie.
The Nasdaq Composite end up 20.89 points, or 0.4%, at 5,056, surpassing a 15-year closing high set March 10, 2000 during the dot-com boom.
The latest rise came as a string of major tech companies reported earnings (eBay) during trading, or post the close (Microsoft, Amazon).
The S&P 500 ended 4.97 points, or 0.2%, higher at 2,112.93, backing off from the intraday record of 2,120.52, while the Dow added 20.42 points, or 0.1%, to close higher at 18,058.69.
Iron ore with 62% content at Qingdao rose 1.4% to $US54.82 a tonne, extending Wednesday’s 5.9%, according to the Metal Bulletin Ltd. It dropped to $US47.08 on April 2, the lowest level since 2005. According to the Steel Index the price ended at $US53.80 a tonne, up 1.7% from its prior close of $US52.90 a tonne.
The past fortnight has been iron ore’s strongest this year so far and has seen the spot price jump 15% from the 10-year low of $US46.70 a tonne reached earlier this month. Last night’s close was the highest since March 27.
In London Brent crude rose $US2.40 a barrel to $US65.13, while in New York WTI crude jumped $US1.63 a barrel to $US57.81.
Earlier European shares sold off as the early surveys of manufacturing activity disappointed and investors grew nervous ahead of the meeting tonight of eurozone finance ministers which will see Greece’s weak financial position and bailout at the top of the agenda.
