Wall Street finished flat overnight, giving few leads for traders in Australia or Asia later today. Nothing significant will emerge after the Easter break as investors look for new leads from the US and Chinese economies later on Friday (See separate stories).
With many markets closed yesterday and overnight for the Easter Monday holiday, the ASX will open around 12 points or so weaker this morning and waiting for leads from Tokyo and Chinese markets later in the day.
The Aussie dollar firmed a touch to 75.40 in late US and early Asian trading.
The big focus for investors on Wall Street and forex and bond markets is the speech tonight our time (around 2.30 tomorrow morning) from Fed chair, Janet Yellen. Investors want to see what she has to say about the US economy and the possible path of interest rates.
Gold and oil weakened, but copper rose.
The S&P 500 added just 1.12 points, or 0.1%, to 2,037.05, the Dow rose 19.73 points, or 0.1%, to 17,535.53, but the Nasdaq fell 6.72 points, or 0.1%, to 4,766.79.
Comex gold futures fell to their lowest level since February 26, down $US1.50, or 0.1%, to end at $US1,222 an ounce.
Comex May silver fell nearly a cent to end at $US15.19 an ounce, but May copper added 1.7 cents, or 0.8%, to $US2.246 a pound, and went against the weakening trend. OIl futures again weakened, May West Texas intermediate crude futures in New York lost 7 cents, or 0.2%, to settle at $3US9.39 a barrel , while in London, May Brent crude dropped 17 cents, or 0.4%, to $US40.27 a barrel.
For the month, however, WTI crude was up nearly 11% and Brent crude traded almost 14% higher. Gold futures are up around 15%.
