re: blinded bears you gotta love them
Share prices are expected to trade higher, buoyed by gains on Wall Street after the Federal Reserve kept short-term interest rates steady, as expected, but left the door open to additional rate hikes, dealers said.
They said market attention is likely to be focused on leading retailer Coles Myer which reported a 13.9 pct rise July year underlying net profit to 787.3 mln aud this morning, slightly higher than its guidance of a result of about 785 mln aud.
Coles also raised its final dividend to 0.225 aud from last year's 0.17, seen as part of move to fend off unwanted takeover overtures. Last month the retailer received a 17.3 bln aud indicative offer from a private equity consortium led by corporate raider Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR).
The S&P/ASX September 200 contract, which expires this morning, finished its overnight session up 20.0 points at 5,010.0.
Yesterday, share prices closed sharply lower as investors sold resource stocks following the drop in metal and oil prices.
The S&P/ASX 200 lost 58.3 points or 1.15 pct to close at 4,998.5 while the All Ordinaries Index retreated 53.2 points or 1.06 pct to close at 4,962.5.
In New York, stronger earnings, lower oil prices as well as the stable interest rate setting encouraged investors.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 72.28, or 0.63 percent, to 11,613.19.
News Corp ended up 0.86 pct while National Australia Bank ADRs eased 0.26 pct.
In London, share prices closed higher on hopes that the Fed would opt to leave interest rates on hold while local merger and acquisition talk and a weaker crude oil price provided additional support, dealers said.
BHP Billiton added 0.22 pct while Rio Tinto rose 0.75 pct.
Crude oil prices fell to fresh six-month lows on Wednesday with a rise in distillate and gasoline supplies in the US in the latest week offsetting a larger-than-expected fall in crude inventories.
The expiring October Nymex crude contract fell 1.20 usd or 1.9 pct to close at 60.46 usd a
barrel - the lowest close since March 20.
Base metal prices were again mixed in London on Wednesday with analysts saying that metal prices are trapped in tight trading ranges.
Gold prices rose on Wednesday on physical buying and speculative short-covering.
Traders said little safe-haven buying was seen in response to the coup in Thailand.
The December benchmark Comex gold contract rose 3.00 usd to 586.20 usd an ounce.
Ahead in Australia the Reserve Bank Bulletin is due for release together with August new vehicle sales data.
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