Daytrading July 16 pre-market

Morning traders. Thanks Trees and after-market regulars.

Market wrap:

Stocks face an uncertain start with the Greek parliament due to vote on a new bailout deal before this morning's Australian market open and US stocks fading to a modest loss.

The September SPI200 futures contract ended the night session five points or 0.1% ahead at 5589 after images of violent protests in Athens fuelled a late sell-off on Wall Street.

The S&P 500 was ahead for much of the night, but sold off over the last hour of trade for a loss of two points or 0.07% as traders waited to hear whether Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has retained enough support to pass the latest deal. His government had until 7am AEST this morning to approve the legislation. The Dow lost three points or 0.02%, breaking a run of four straight advances. The Nasdaq gave up six points or 0.12%.

“If you take how far we’ve come in the last three days, throw a riot on TV and toss in the fact that it appears that Greek parliament is still debating this package - that’s enough to hit the market late in the afternoon on a quiet day,” Michael Antonelli, managing director at Robert W Baird in the US, told Bloomberg.

The mood was more optimistic in Europe, where the benchmark index built all day. The Stoxx Europe 600 closed 0.43% ahead as Germany's DAX added 0.2% and France's CAC 0.29% and Britain's FTSE closed unchanged. Helping sentiment were reports that the European Commission is ready to extend Greece a bridging loan to meet its short-term needs, and that the International Monetary Fund is pushing for a restructuring of Greece's debt to reduce it to manageable levels.

In the US, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen confirmed that the central bank remains on track to raise its key rate this year. She assured policy-makers that the pace of rate increases will be gradual to reflect an economy that continues to show moderate growth. Read more here. The Fed's Beige Book, released overnight, showed increasing optimism that the economy is gathering pace. Read more here.

Biotechs outperformed once again, with the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index rising 0.67%. The Dow Jones Transportation Average retreated 0.72%.

Resource stocks were a drag as the US dollar got a lift from Yellen's testimony and questions over Greece. Gold hit an eight-month low and oil settled at its weakest level in three months. The NYSE Arca Gold Bugs index slumped 2.43% to a 12-year nadir after gold for August delivery settled $6.10 or 0.5% lower at US$1,147.40 an ounce, a fifth straight loss.

The US energy sector declined 1.76% after Tuesday night's 'Iran nuclear deal' rally in crude proved short-lived. West Texas Intermediate crude oil for August delivery settled $1.63 or 3.1% in the red at US$51.41 a barrel, its lowest point since April.

BHP fell 1.65% in US trade after announcing a hefty writedown to its US gas assets. Rio Tinto eased 0.1%. Spot iron ore for import to China yesterday bounced 70 cents to US$50.10 a dry ton.

A mixed night on the London Metal Exchanged saw some base metals find support in yesterday's improved Chinese economic data, while strength in the greenback curbed buyer interest in others. In London, copper slid 0.6%, nickel 1.1% and tin 0.5%. Aluminium gained 0.6%, lead 1.8% and zinc 1%. US copper for September delivery was recently down 0.85% at US$2.52 a pound.

The dollar was this morning buying 73.81 US cents.

TRADING THEMES TODAY

WALL STREET PAUSES FOR GREECE: By the time you read this, we will likely know if Greece has voted for the rock or the hard place. Neither option is attractive, but investors have been betting that the government will get its austerity package through parliament and secure a credit line for another three years. Any hiccup may trigger another global sell-off. Approval will give our market a shot at a convincing breakout from its downtrend. Futures traders appear to be anticipating the latter. We're past the midnight Athens deadline as I write and no vote has taken place yet. Anyone surprised? You can follow developments in Athens here. Biotechs had another good session in the US, but gold stocks and oil companies were sold off. The disparity in performance between the HUI and Australian gold  miners is glaring. Currency factors are obviously the key, but it's still interesting how well sentiment has held up here considering US miners are trading at 12-year lows.

ECONOMIC NEWS: June inflation expectations figures are due at 11am EST. Tonight's US highlights are weekly benefit claims, further congressional testimony from Fed Chair Janet Yellen, Philly Fed Manufacturing Index and housing market index.

Good luck to all.