Morning traders.Market wrap: Rising commodity prices should help...

Morning traders.

Market wrap: Rising commodity prices should help Australian shares open higher for a fourth straight day despite a late fade on Wall Street.

Futures traders expect our market to open 24 points ahead of yesterday's close as a softening U.S. dollar bolstered metal prices and oil overnight. The March SPI futures contract closed at 4727.

Fresh merger plans helped Wall Street advance in early trade for a third session but the major indexes pared gains before the closing bell. The S&P 500 finished 0.23% higher, the Dow was up 2 points or 0.02% and the Nasdaq up 0.29%.

A quiet night for U.S. economic news saw investors hold off on placing big bets ahead of Friday night's employment figures and Thursday's retail sales.

"What we've managed to do over the last few days is get the market back into a neutral mode," the director of equities at a New York firm told MarketWatch. "The next big thing to look for would be whether we test the January highs, which would indicate that we have some more room to run to the upside. But we're not there yet."

Financial stocks strengthened on reports that President Obama's legislation to rein in proprietary trading at commercial banks will be watered down. Senators were said to be pushing for the creation of a new consumer-protection division within the Federal Reserve. Market commentators said the amended legislation did not sound as restrictive as the original plan.

Details of Greece's plans to avoid debt default are expected tonight. The government is expected to reveal a new "austerity package" to cut its budget deficit by four percentage points this year. A 10-year bond aimed at raising between ?3 billion and ?5 billion, is also expected to be announced.

The U.S. dollar lost ground as the euro improved, while Australia's rate rise and a hawkish outlook from the Bank of Canada highlighted the prospect of better returns elsewhere. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, was recently off 0.21%.

A strong night for precious metals saw gold break out of its recent trading range, as well as solid gains for silver and platinum. Gold hit a six-week high. The spot price was recently at $1,134.50 an ounce, up $16.50 or 1.5% on Monday's new York close.

Crude oil futures spiked close to $81 before recently falling back to $79.72 a barrel, a rise of 1.3%.

Industrial metals were bolstered by the falling greenback and hopes that a rescue package will resolve Greek debt worries. In London, copper gained 1.2%, aluminium 0.8%, lead 0.9%, nickel 3% and zinc 1.1%.

European markets advanced for a third day. Britain's FTSE gained 1.45%, Germany's DAX 1.1% and France's CAC 1.1%.

TRADING THEMES TODAY

GOLD: Gold has been butting up against the $1,120 an ounce resistance level since late January and finally broke higher last night at the fourth attempt. The path is now clear for a run towards the next resistance level at around $1,160.

GDP: The national accounts for the December quarter are released today at 11.30 am. After raising interest rates yesterday, the Reserve Bank obviously expects a strong result. An AAP survey of economists found the median forecast for gross domestic product for the quarter was growth of 0.9%. Anything less may unsettle the market.

OTHER ECONOMIC NEWS: Ahead of the crucial GDP numbers at 11.30am comes the Performance of Services index at 9.30 am. The economic schedule picks up in the U.S. tonight, with the Fed's Beige Book, crude oil inventories, the services PMI and non-farm employment changes.

Good luck to all.