daytrading jan 22 pre-market

Morning traders.

Market wrap:

Shares have broadly positive leads for today after gains in European markets, US futures and the big Australian miners offset a subdued night on commodity markets.

With Wall Street closed for a public holiday, the March SPI 200 futures contract last traded at midnight three points or less than 0.1% weaker at 4740 on low volume. However, subsequent action in Europe may deliver a stronger open than those figures indicate.

European markets took their cues from Friday's solid close on Wall Street and an upgraded outlook on the German economy from the Bundesbank. The Stoxx Europe 600 index rallied 0.26% after Germany's DAX put on 0.61%, France's CAC 0.57% and Britain's FTSE 0.43%. Trading volumes were below average.

US futures improved as Europe's biggest share markets closed at their highs for the session. Dow futures were lately up 30 points or nearly 0.3%.

"People are more optimistic this year, which is justified after the bearish sentiment last year, but the macro challenges haven't diminished at all," a senior European economist at RBC Capital Markets told MarketWatch. "Some of the tail risks have been removed, but we still have to address fiscal consolidation and a banking union, so there's still a lot of hard work to be done."

Germany's Bundesbank helped overnight sentiment with a report that the nation's economy is picking up after contracting last quarter. The central bank said business confidence had improved and there were signs that the economy will expand this quarter and avoid a technical recession.

BHP and Rio Tinto fared better in UK action overnight than they did on the ASX yesterday. Rio advanced 1.5% and BHP 1.44% as the FTSE closed at its highest level since May 2008.

Activity on commodity markets was lacklustre. Oil rallied late in the session to finish little changed. West Texas crude for February delivery was lately down two cents or less than 0.1% at US$95.47 a barrel after dropping as low as US$95.05.

Copper inched up in US trade despite a soft session on the London Metal Exchange. US copper for March delivery was recently up around half a cent or 0.15% at US$3.67 a pound. In London, copper dipped less than 0.1%, aluminium 0.2%, lead 0.1%, nickel 0.7%, tin 0.2% and zinc 0.1%.

Gold ignored a downgraded outlook on the metal from Citigroup. Analysts at Citigroup reduced their gold forecasts for 2013 by 4.2% to $1,675 an ounce and for 2014 by 0.2% to $1,653. Gold for February delivery inched up $2.80 to $1,689.70 an ounce.

TRADING THEMES TODAY

POSITIVE TREND TO CONTINUE: No nasty surprises overnight, so the path appears clear for modest gains here today. Trading volumes were predictably weak overseas and are likely to be below average here while we wait for Wall Street to resume tonight. BHP and Rio may provide the momentum after iron ore inched up yesterday for the first time in nearly two weeks. The spot price in Shanghai advanced 80 cents to US$145.90 per dry metric tonne.

ECONOMIC NEWS: No significant domestic news scheduled today. The Bank of Japan has a rates decision and press conference. European finance ministers meet tonight to discuss the debt crisis. The US cranks back into action with existing home sales and the Richmond manufacturing index.

Good luck to all.