(WS) Early World Summary: US EQUITIES RISING AS OIL RETREATS RWE News 7:18:020 26/04/2005 Sydney - Tuesday - April 26: (RWE Australian Business News) - US equities have resumed their upward advance after a Friday stumble although key indices finished in front on the week. It was about time because investors still have to reach positive territory on the year despite rallying about 2 per cent since April 20. Industrial stocks have fallen about 5 percent on the Dow and 4.2 per cent on the S&P 500 so far this year. The stock market has been driven by the perception that analysts might have over estimated the downturn in corporate earnings in the first quarter. One analyst believes corporate profit growth is still in good shape. Wall Street moved in waves of buying and selling with renewed support emerging in the last hour of business. The Dow was up over 80 points, then came back to 50 plus and finished up 85 points. The S&P 500 was much smoother ending the session up 10 points while the Nasdaq composite gained 19 points and the 100 index 16. There was good news on the oil price which settled 82c lower at $54.57c barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. However, spectre of creeping inflation is still around the corner especially after the surprisingly high consumer price figures last week. It should lead the Fed to think very seriously of lifting rates above "the measured pace". With much of the S&P first quarter reporters already in earnings are looking better than expected. On the economic front the National Association of Realtors reported sales of previously owned homes rose 1 per cent in March to 6.89 million units at an annual rate. In contrasted to the Commerce Department's report last week that showed housing construction fell 17.6 percent in March from a month earlier. Single-family homes sales increased 1.2 per cent in March to a 6.04 million unit rate from a 5.97 million unit rate in February. In the market Valero, the S&P 500's top performer this year, advanced strongly after it announced it would buy Premcor Inc. for $6.9 billion in cash and stock to become the largest U.S. refiner. Premcor rallied $12.06 to $71.06. The US Treasury is presently awaiting a report on the impact of China pegging its currency to the US dollar. The US Congress believe it is unfair that China should still be allowed. This has helped China to increase its exports to American markets even as the dollar fell in value. It is described as a manipulative trade tactic and Treasury is urging China to end its currency peg of 8.28 yuan to the dollar. Meanwhile Treasury paper showed little activity. The 10 year cash paper yield rose a point to 4.255 per cent. The US dollar has been mixed as gold edged up 30c to $434.60 oz on the COMEX spot month. The Aussie was subdued and drifted down 8 points to US78.03c
WALL STREET ... settled 84.76 points higher at 10,242.47 on the Dow Jones Industrial Average index. The broadly-based S&P 500 finished 9.98 ahead at 1,162.1. The Nasdaq composite ended 18.59 points in front at 1950.78 while the 100 index gained 16.1 to 1,437.31. Treasuries drifted lower as Wall St rallied. The 10-year cash paper fell 2/32 ticks to 97 31/32, lifting the yield 1 point to 4.255 per cent.
US DOLLAR ... has been mixed against major currencies. The greenback is selling at 105.68 yen, down from 106.08 at the previous close in NY. The euro is at 1.3010 (prev 1.3064) and sterling is 1.9118 (prev 1.9142). The greenback is at 1.1868 Swiss francs (prev 1.1811).
AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR ... slipped against the greenback. It is changing hands at US78.03c, down 8 points on last night's local close. High for the session was US78.14c and low was US77.70c. Crosses were mixed with the yen at 82.47 (prev 82.86), 0.6000 euros (prev 0.5939) and 40.82 pence on sterling (prev 40.64).
EUROPEAN SHAREMARKETS ... closed higher across almost all major boards, helped by company quarterly results. In London, the blue chip FTSE 100 Index added 0.32 per cent while the more broadly-based measure of mid-cap stocks, the FTSE 250 Index only managed to edge up 0.06 per cent or 3.9 points to 7016.80. After long-running talks, retail bank Barclays announced that it is in advanced discussions to acquire 60 per cent of South Africa's ABSA bank for around 30 billion rand. Barclays Bank shares edged up 0.09 per cent to 556.5p on the news. The shares of spirits group Allied Domecq gained 1.28 per cent to 671.5p following weekend reports that US wine maker Constellation Brands has entered the arena with a view to making a possible counter bid for Allied. French counterpart Pernod Ricard and US-based Fortune Brands agreed to buy Allied last week, in a stock and cash combination valued at $14 billion. In Europe, Germany's measure of business activity, the Ifo Institute index, dipped to 93.3 in April, down slightly from the March reading of 94. However, that did not dampen investors' enthusiasm for shares of German pharmaceutical company Schering which rose 1.81 per cent to 51.24 euros after reporting an 11 per cent gain in first quarter profits. Shares of Infineon Technologies also advanced, rising 2.01 per cent to 7.09 euros in Frankfurt after an investment rating upgrade to "buy" by Citigroup Smith Barney on improving fundamentals. Despite the Swiss share index, the SMI Index being a sole decliner in Europe by 0.22 per cent to 5899.93, the world's largest food products manufacturer, Nestle held its ground, to close unchanged in Zurich at 317.75. As expected, Nestle reported a 4.6 per cent improvement in organic sales growth in 2004. At the close, London's FTSE 100 rose 15.60 to 4864.90, Paris's CAC-40 gained 12.89 to 3993.07 and Frankfurt's DAX advanced 23.92 to 4246.96. In other markets, Amsterdam added 1, Madrid rose 10 and Zurich lost 13.
METALS ... edged higher. Spot gold rose 30c to $434.60 oz while the June contract gained 20c to $435.80 oz on COMEX. But May silver dipped 1.5c to $7.26 oz while the active July platinum traded $2.70 higher at $878.70 oz on NYMEX. New York May copper picked up 15 points to 148.95c lb. Closing three month LME metal prices were copper $3260 tonne, tin $8050, lead $934, zinc $1297, aluminium $1829 and nickel $15,875 tonne.
Three-month London Metals Exchange were mixed. Official bid prices were: copper down $329 to $3227 tonne. Tin was down $25 to $8075 while lead lost $8 to $935, zinc fell $8 to $1297, aluminium shed $46 to $1821 but nickel put on $50 to $15,900 tonne.
OIL ... settled 82c lower at $54.57 barrel on the June contract the New York Mercantile Exchange. High for the session was $55.88 and low $54.50 a barrel. The further out July contract dropped 63c to $55.91 barrel while the high was $57.20 and low $55.53 barrel. In the UK, the June Brent crude contract fell 57c to $54.07 barrel on the International Petroleum Exchange.
The CRB index rose 1.39 points to 308.68. ENDS !END
