daytrading pre-market mar 3

Thanks Trees,

Good morning all,

What you need2know:

• SPI futures up 21 points at 5417 on Monday morning

• AUD at 88.99 US cents at about 7am AEST on Monday

• On Wall St, S&P500 +0.28%, Dow Jones +0.30%, Nasdaq -0.25%

• In Europe, Euro Stoxx 50 +0.46%, FTSE100 -0.01%, CAC +0.27%, DAX +1.08%

• Spot gold down $US4.90 to $US1326.39 an ounce

• Brent oil up 11 US cents to $US109.07 per barrel

What's on today

Australia: Ai Group performance of manufacturing, RP Data-Rismark dwelling prices, TD-MI inflation, HIA new home sales, business indicators, ANZ job ads.

There's also a range of manufacturing data from China, Europe and the US.

Stocks to watch

About 30 ASX stocks will trade ex-dividend today including BHP Billiton, Lend Lease, Pacific Brands and WorleyParsons.

RBC Capital Markets has an "outperform" on Oil Search with a $10 a share 12-month price target.

Deutsche Bank has affirmed its "hold" rating on shares of Qantas.

Currencies

Major currency markets have been broadly stable as investors retreated from emerging markets to safer bets like the euro, dollar, yen and Swiss franc.

"The euro certainly looks good, everything is in place for more gains. But I wouldn't race out and buy it at the moment," said Graham Davidson, FX trader with NAB in London.

Commodities

Wheat prices rose about 3 per cent to lead gains in US commodities on Friday as the US dollar fell but the biggest monthly gains for February were posted by arabica coffee, which rallied 40 per cent on fears of crop damage from Brazil's drought.

Gold fell on Friday as US equities climbed, but the yellow metal still posted its biggest monthly gain since July.

Citigroup said in a recent research note that about $US1.6 billion has entered the sector so far this saw versus record outflows of about $US50 billion in 2013.

"The risk-on play in commodities is more alive than ever," said Adam Sarhan, chief executive of New York-based financial advisory and boutique investment firm Sarhan Capital.

United States

The S&P 500 ended at another record close on Friday but well off the day's highs as worries about tensions in Ukraine caused investors to take profits ahead of the weekend.

All three major indexes closed out the month with strong gains, however. The Dow scored its best monthly percentage gain since January 2013, while the S&P 500 had its best month since October.

For the month, the Dow rose 4 per cent, the S&P 500 gained 4.3 per cent and the Nasdaq advanced 5 per cent. For the week, the Dow was up 1.4 per cent, the S&P 500 was up 1.3 per cent and the Nasdaq was up 1 per cent.

Europe

European shares initially dipped as euro-zone inflation data came in at 0.8 per cent, one-tenth of a percentage point above expectations, lessening the prospect of new monetary stimulus measures from the European Central Bank.

Athough Spain and Italy have shown signs of an economic recovery from a slump caused by the 2010-2012 euro zone debt crisis, some traders still prefer Germany - Europe's biggest economy - as their favoured European stock market.

"I would look to buy Germany on dips and sell Spain and Italy on rallies," said HED Capital head Richard Edwards.

What happened on Friday

The S&P/ASX Index fell 6.6 points, or 0.12 per cent, to 5404.8. However strong corporate earnings helped power the benchmark 4.5 per cent higher in February.

Having rallied off a 3.3 per cent loss in January, the local benchmark index is now ahead 0.7 per cent for the year, and a number of equity strategists have lifted their targets for where the ASX will end 2014.

"The outlook heading into reporting season was optimistic and we haven't been disappointed," Goldman Sachs Asset Management head of Australian equities Dion Hershan said. "On balance earnings and the outlook have exceeded what were some fairly sombre consensus expectations."

Sectors:

Energy -0.17%

Materials +0.11%

Industrials -0.29%

Health care +0.24%

Consumer discretionary +0.55%

Consumer staple -0.12%

Financials -0.27%

Information technology -0.89%

Telecommunications services -0.32%

Utilities +0.22%

Good luck all