Morning traders.Market wrap: Australian stocks are likely to...

Morning traders.

Market wrap:

Australian stocks are likely to open little changed after yesterday pre-empting an overnight relief rally on world markets after Greece passed new austerity measures.

The March SPI 200 futures contract ended the night session two points or less than 0.1% weaker at 4243 as US and European stocks rallied broadly in line with yesterday's gains here and in Asia.

Financials and industrials steered the S&P 500 up 0.68% as the risk of a disorderly Greek default was alleviated by yesterday morning's "yes" vote in the Greek parliament. The Dow put on 73 points or 0.57% and the Nasdaq added 0.95%.

European markets also advanced, with European finance ministers widely expected to sign off on a second rescue package for Greece at a meeting tomorrow in Brussels. Britain's FTSE added 0.91%, Germany's DAX 0.68% and France's CAC 0.34%.

"This has been a broad risk-on rally," the chief investment strategist at UBS Wealth Management Americas told Bloomberg. "The fact that the Greek Parliament was able to push through the austerity measures was widely expected. This eliminates one of the stumbling blocks, but it doesn't solve the Greek issue... Our view is that Greece is going to struggle to make payments going forward."

Commodities had a mixed night, with most metals losing ground as traders who had "bought the rumour" on Greece "sold the news". Copper fell back amid speculation about the sustainability of this year's 12% rally while Chinese demand remains soft. In London, copper lost 0.6%, aluminium 1.2%, lead 0.6%, nickel 0.35%, tin 0.3% and zinc 0.5%. US copper was recently off 0.7%.

"This quick rally of copper on the London Metals Exchange over the past months has overshot fundamentals and there could be a risk of price correction from this level by around 8 to 10% before the Chinese come back," Macquarie analysts told Reuters. "We need a lower copper price to incentivize Chinese buying or a significant pick-up of the construction market from recent lows, which seems unlikely in the near term."

There were no such qualms among oil traders, who pushed US crude back above US$100 a barrel as car-bomb attacks targetted at Israeli embassy staff in New Delhi and Tbilisi raised tensions in the Middle East. Crude for March delivery was recently up $2 or 2% at US$100.66 a barrel.

Gold swung in a US$15 range but was lately little changed. Gold for April delivery was off 10 cents or less than 0.1% at US$1,725.10 an ounce.

TRADING THEMES TODAY

CONSOLIDATION: No real surprises in the overnight action. The XJO got it just about right yesterday, which leaves it with nowhere in particular to go this morning until Asia offers a lead. The banks, industrials and oilers were among the leaders in the US, with biotechs and small caps also strong - good indicators of risk appetite. Oil is starting to look bullish again after yesterday's events at the Israeli embassies.

ECONOMIC NEWS: Reserve Bank Assistant Governor Guy Debelle is due to deliver a speech on "Europe's Effects on Australian Financial Markets" at around 8.45am EST. Business confidence figures are due at 11.30am. Europe releases a swag of data tonight, including industrial production, German sentiment and British inflation figures. Retail sales are the main event tonight in the US. Also due: business inventories, import prices and testimony from Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner about the Budget before the Senate Finance Committee.

Good luck to all.