daytrades march 28 pre-market

Morning traders.

Market wrap: A mildly negative start to trade is likely as Friday's weaker resource prices and falls for the big miners in overseas trade offset modest gains in US stocks.

The June SPI futures contract closed 9 points or 0.2% weaker on Saturday morning at 4764 as a recovery in the US dollar weighed on resources.

An upgrade to US economic growth and upbeat earnings reports helped the S&P 500 build on its best weekly performance in nearly two months. The benchmark index added 0.32% on Friday and 2.7% for the week but moderated gains late in the session as end-of-week profit-taking set in. The Dow rose 50 points or 0.41% and the Nasdaq 0.24%.

Fourth-quarter GDP was revised up from 2.8% to 3.1%, with corporate profits especially strong. Company profits improved by 36.8% pre-tax during the last financial year, the biggest rise since 1950. The news helped the market overlook a disappointing March consumer confidence report.

Also helping sentiment were well-received reports from technology bellwether Oracle and employment firm Accenture. Positive outlooks from both companies helped raise expectations for next month's quarterly reporting season.

"Investors are getting back into the mode of thinking there's an economic expansion phase that's likely to continue," the chief investment officer at Citizens Business Bank in the US told Bloomberg. "[Earnings reports were] very, very positive, and a lot of the commentary coming out of the companies was also positive."

Resource prices and mining stocks were hit by a recovery in the US dollar that sapped interest in alternative investments. The greenback rallied 0.65% against a basket of major currencies after a US Federal Reserve official said the era of record low interest rates would end in the "not-too-distant future".

BHP eased 0.65% in the US and Rio Tinto fell 0.5%. Alumina added 2.1% as aluminium bucked the downtrend in the sector, rising 0.5% in London. Copper lost 0.1%, lead 0.6%, nickel 0.3%, tin 0.1% and zinc 1.7%.

Oil finished lower but continued to hover near last week's highs, supported by continued unrest in Libya, Yemen and Syria. Crude for May delivery fell 20 cents or 0.2% to US $105.40 a barrel.

Precious metals eased as the strengthening greenback reduced their appeal as hedges. Gold for April delivery dropped $8.70 or 0.6% to US $1,426.20 an ounce. May silver lost 33 cents or 0.9% at $37.05 an ounce.

The major European markets crept higher in volatile trade as EU leaders struggled to reach agreement on a plan to deal with the continent's sovereign debt issues. Britain's FTSE added 0.34%, Germany's DAX 0.18% and France's CAC 0.09%.

TRADING THEMES THIS WEEK

WINDOW DRESSING: There were promising signs last week that US investors are willing to look beyond troubles in Japan, North Africa, the Middle East and Europe and buy US companies expected to deliver strong earnings during next month's quarterly reporting season. Combine that with the usual end-of-month/end-of-quarter window dressing from institutional money managers and the prospects for this week seem promising (barring unforeseen events).

YANKEE DOLLAR: The broadly inverse relationship between the US dollar and commodity prices reasserted itself on Friday and may require watching if talk in the US of monetary tightening gathers pace. Federal Reserve member Charles Plosser stoked a rebound in the greenback on Friday when he revealed a plan to hike US interest rates from near zero to 2.5% within a year. That prospect has negative implications for resource prices (because a strong dollar makes dollar-denominated commodities more expensive for holders for other currencies and reduces their appeal as alternative investments to the greenback) and US equities (because rising interest rates raise the appeal of bank deposits and are broadly negative for most companies because of higher borrowing costs). Our miner-heavy share market is particularly susceptible to movements in resource prices.

ECONOMIC NEWS: The local newsflow begins slowly but picks up at the end of the week. Scheduled news includes monthly new-home sales (tomorrow); building approvals, retail sales and private-sector credit (Thu); and the manufacturing index (Fri). Overseas news during our trading hours this week includes Chinese and Japanese manufacturing indexes on Friday. This week's highlights in the US include: personal income, consumer spending and core PCE price index (tonight); consumer confidence (tomorrow); jobless claims, Chicago PMI, factory orders (Thu); and non-farm payrolls, unemployment rate, average hourly earnings, ISM, construction spending and motor vehicle sales (Fri).

Good luck to all.