The ASX is looking at a rise of around 20 points this morning after Wall Street edged higher in late trading after a third US rate rise since late 2008 became more likely at next week’s two day meeting of the US Federal Reserve (see separate story).
Eurozone shares rose 0.3% on Friday and the US S&P 500 rose a tiny 0.05% after Fed Chair Janet Yellen and Vice Chair Stanley Fischer confirmed that another rate hike is likely at the Fed meeting
Following this slightly positive global lead ASX 200 futures rose 0.4% pointing to a 21 point gain at the open for the Australian share market today, reversing half of Friday’s surprise 0.8% slide.
Last week saw US shares rise 0.7%, European shares gain 2.6% and Japanese shares rise 1%. By contrast Australian shares fell 0.2% and Chinese shares fell 1.3% ahead of the 2017 National Congress which started yesterday.
Bond yields generally rose as the probability of a March Fed rate hike firmed and this also saw the $US rise slightly which in turn put downwards on some commodity prices and the $A, which closed the week just under 76 US cents at 75.96.
Wall Street ended higher for the week Friday and fractionally higher for the session after Ms Yellen signalled a March rate hike was likely appropriate.
The Dow edged up 2.74 points to finish at 21,005.71. For the week, the Dow closed up 0.9%, for the 4th week in a row.
The S&P 500 closed 1.20 points higher at 2,383.12, and for the week, the index 500 closed up 0.7%, for a sixth week.
The Nasdaq added 9.53 points, or 0.2%, at 5,870.75, for a 0.4% gain on the week, for a sixth straight week of gains.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index and the broader All Ordinaries Index each slid 0.8% on Friday to 5729.6 points and 5775.4 points, respectively.
Over the week, the two fell 0.2% as a number of major companies such as Woolworths, Telstra, Woodside Petroleum, IAG and Lend Lease went ex-dividend.
