Morning traders. Thanks Trees and after-market regulars. Market...

Morning traders. Thanks Trees and after-market regulars.

Market wrap:

Shares look set to open modestly higher on the back of slim gains on Wall Street as a rout in commodities deepened.

The September SPI200 futures contract edged up ten points or 0.2% to 5652 as US stocks pared solid early gains and the Bloomberg Commodity Index fell to its lowest level in 13 years.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both pushed briefly into record territory before a bout of last-hour profit-taking. The S&P 500 ended the session two points or 0.08% ahead at 2,128 after earlier running as high as 2,133, a new peak. The Nasdaq reduced its final gain to eight points or 0.17% but still claimed the index's third record close. The Dow added 14 points or 0.08%. The rally came as the Q2 US earnings season continued to provide more upside surprises than downside.

"The market needs a continual stream of good news at this point to break out and I think this earnings season here is going to provide it," Marc Chaikin, CEO of Chaikin Analytics in the US, told CNBC. "If IBM, Microsoft and Apple have positive things to say about their business, this market's going to skyrocket."

Technology was the pick of the sectors for a second day as traders anticipated a strong earnings season. Roughly a quarter of S&P 500 companies are due to report earnings this week, including Apple and Microsoft tonight.

IBM reported shortly after the close of regular trade in the US this morning. Shares were last down 4.8% in after-market trade after the tech multinational missed revenue expectations for a fourth straight quarter. Read more here.

Resource stocks came under pressure after yesterday's dramatic collapse in gold helped push the Bloomberg Commodity Index to a fifth straight loss and its lowest level since 2002. The index was last down 1.22%. The declines came as investors continued to rotate capital out of raw materials back into the relative safety of the rising US dollar.

“Any increase in US interest rates should further strengthen the dollar, prompting more fund outflows from commodities, metals and emerging-market assets,” Vattana Vongseenin, chief executive officer of Phillip Asset Management in Thailand, told Bloomberg.

The NYSE Arca Gold Bugs index crashed 12.05% overnight after gold fell to 2010 levels in what some analysts attributed to a 'bear raid' by Chinese funds. Gold for August delivery settled $25.10 or 2.2% lower at US$1,106.80 an ounce, its eighth straight loss, and was lately back below US$1,100 at US$1,095.50. Read more here.

The ructions in gold helped push crude oil back below US$50 a barrel as the US dollar index edged to a three-month high. West Texas Intermediate crude oil for August delivery settled 74 cents or 1.5% lower at US$50.15 a barrel and was last trading at US$49.99. The US energy sector declined 1.33%.

“The lack of any noticeable buying interest following the huge price slide from earlier in the month suggests that the bears are in full control and that the selling may have further momentum left behind it,” Fawad Razaqzada, technical analyst at FOREX.com, told MarketWatch. “We could see a vicious sell-off in oil over the coming days.”

BHP lost 1.09% and Rio Tinto 0.84% in US trade. Spot iron ore for import to China yesterday bucked the downtrend in commodities, bouncing $1.90 to US$51.90 a dry ton.

Copper closed flat in London, but lower in the US as the rising greenback pressure base metals. London copper closed unchanged, aluminium fell 1.1%, lead 1.6%, tin 1.5% and zinc 0.7%. Nickel rallied 1.7%. US copper for September delivery was recently down 0.9% at US$2.47 a pound.

European stocks rallied for a ninth night as Greece's banks re-opened after three weeks and the Greek government used a bridging loan to repay its creditors. The Stoxx Europe 600 put on 0.28%, Germany's DAX 0.53%, France's CAC 0.35% and Britain's FTSE 0.2%.

The dollar was this morning buying 73.73 US cents.

TRADING THEMES TODAY

COMMODITIES ROUT TO WEIGH: A sharp little pullback in the last hour of trade took the shine off what would otherwise have been a pretty bullish session in the US, considering they headwinds from commodity markets. Considering the ASX is seen in international terms as a commodity-heavy market, it will be interesting to see how we go today. By way of comparison, Canada's benchmark index slid 1.48% overnight. (NB: it has a heavier energy bias than ours.) The bear raid on gold wreaked havoc on the HUI, so our gold miners may have further to fall today. Other commodities held up reasonably well, but the risk of contagion remains with the US dollar index grinding higher. Tech was the standout in the US and should provide trades here as well.  

ECONOMIC NEWS: The minutes from this month's Reserve Bank policy meeting are due at 11.30am EST. A light week for scheduled economic news continues tonight with nothing major on the diary in the US.

Good luck to all.