world markets overnight ... at a glance

World markets overnight ... at a glance
06:55, Tuesday, 3 October 2006

Sydney - Tuesday - October 3: (RWE Aust Business News) - US
sharemarkets finished slightly lower on the first day of the new quarter.

Investors appeared to have second thoughts after briefly briefly
topping their all-time closing high on the Dow and then slipping on the
latest data on construction spending, housing and manufacturing.

Bonds rallied after last week's losses.
The oil price fell sharply while metals were mixed.
The Aussie dollar was firmer against a weakening greenback.


Wall Street ... The Dow Jones industrial average index settled
8.72 points lower at 11,670.35. The Standard and Poor's 500 index
eased 4.53 points to 1331.32. The Nasdaq Composite lost 20.83 points to
2237.60 and the 100 index dropped 21.32 points to 1632.81 on the close.

Treasuries rebounded, breaking last week's string of losses. The
10-year cash note rose 5/32 ticks to 102 1/32, trimming the yield 2
points to 4.62c. The 30-year bond yield slipped 1 point to 4.76 pc while
the 2-year note shed 3 points to 4.66pc.


US dollar... has retreated against major currencies. It is
trading at 117.67 yen from around 118.05 previously in New York. The Euro
is $US1.2739 against $1.2674 while sterling is $US1.8865 compared with
1.8769 previously. On the Swiss franc, the US dollar is trading at 1.2434
from 1.2500 previously.


Australian dollar ... has gained on the greenback in New York
overnight while crosses weakened. The $A is currently trading at
US74.84c, compared with yesterday's local close of US74.53c. It traded as
high as US74.95c and as low as US74.34c. The Aussie on the crosses is
worth 88.06 yen (pre 88.11), 0.5876 euros (pre 0.5882) and 39.67 pence on
sterling (pre 39.80).

European sharemarkets ... At the close the UK FTSE-100 Index
eased 3.3 points to 5957.50, the French CAC-40 Index lost 6.88 to
5243.13, the German DAX Xetra index slipped 4.87 to 5999.46 while Zurich
fell 44.76 to 8381.15. Other markets mostly followed the downtrend.
Amsterdam fell 1, Brussels lost less than half a point, Milan shed 31 but
Madrid General barely made positive territory while Oslo came off 2
points.

Metals... mixed. COMEX October gold spot month contract fell
90c to $597.70 oz while the active December contract lost a similar
amount to $600.40 oz. October silver rose 10c to $11.55 oz. October
platinum gained $12.00 to $1153.20 oz while spot copper (Oct) fell 2.85c
to 343.05c lb in New York.

Three months closing LME bid prices were copper $7515 tonne,
tin $8850, lead $1375, zinc $3360, aluminium $2560 and nickel $29,150
tonne.

Earlier, on the three months official bid prices, copper rose $56
to $7635 tonne, tin lost $70 to $8925 but lead eased $4 to 1391. Zinc
gained $39.50 to $3384.50 and aluminium edged up $2 to $2588 while nickel
ended $595 higher at $29,300 tonne.

Oil ... settled $1.88 lower at $61.03 barrel for the spot price
based on the November contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange
showing a high of $62.70 and low $60.90 barrel. The December crude
contract shed $1.83 to $62.32 barrel with a high of $63.85 and low
$62.20 barrel. The Brent ICE November crude futures fell $2.12 to $60.36
barrel with a high of $62.82 and low $60.30 barrel.

The CRB index fell 4.22 points to 301.36.

ENDS