Following positive leads, the Australian share market looks set...

Following positive leads, the Australian share market looks set to open higher. Despite early trepidation in global markets following the weekend attacks in Paris, US stocks rose more than 1 percent at Monday’s close, led by energy shares.

Meanwhile the Australian dollar has borne the brunt of investor nervousness. The local currency has slipped back below US71cents.

Markets

Wall Street closed up yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.4 per cent to close at 17,483, the S&P 500 added 1.5 per cent to close at 2,053 and the NASDAQ gained 1.15 per cent to close at 4,985.

European markets closed mixed: London’s FTSE gained 0.5 per cent, Paris lost 0.08 per cent and Frankfurt gained 0.05 per cent.

Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei lost 1 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.7 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.7 per cent.

The Australian share market closed lower yesterday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 47 points down to finish at 5,004.


On the futures market the SPI is 66 points up.

Currencies

The Australian Dollar at 8:20AM was buying $US0.7097 cents