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Outlook: Aus shares set to open higher October 16, 2015 09:12 AM



The local market looks set to open higher after US markets rallied well over 1 per cent Thursday. Financial stocks including Goldman Sachs and Boeing sent the Down Jones surging after a two day rout.

More soft economic data is supporting the case for a delay in an interest rate rise from the Federal Reserve.

US economic news

US consumer prices fell a seasonally adjusted 0.2 per cent in September, in line with expectations. Analysts say low oil prices are keeping inflation below the Fed’s target rate.

The US jobs market is looking better however with weekly jobs claims falling by 7,000 to 255,000, the lowest level in 42 years and coming in well below expectations of claims of 270,000.

Markets

Wall Street closed higher yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained  1.3 per cent to close at 17,142, the S&P 500 advanced 1.5 per cent to close at 2,024 and the NASDAQ added 1.8 per cent to close at 4,870.

European markets closed up: London’s FTSE rose 1.1 per cent, Paris added 1.4 per cent and Frankfurt gained 1.5 per cent.

Asian markets also closed higher: Tokyo’s Nikkei added 1.2 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 2 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite rose by 2.3 per cent.

The Australian share market closed higher yesterday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 33 points up to finish at 5,230. On the futures market the SPI is 40 points up.