Saxo Bank | May 22, 2015 04:37AM ET
Overnight and early trading
The sharemarket bounced higher at the open, supported by strong gains in the miners. The S&P/ASX200 was up 0.45% at 5687.6 at 10.20am. The big four banks were mixed but will be closely watched after having been heavily sold off recently.
The S&P 500 Index ground out a new record high on Thursday, as stocks gained broadly in quiet trading.
The broad market index added 4.97 points, or 0.2%, to 2130.82, surpassing its last record reached on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.34 points to 18285.74, still 0.1% shy of its Monday record of 18312.39.
The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 19.05 points, or 0.4%, to 5090.79, but stopped just short of its April 24 record of 5092.09. The gains came on the back of quiet trading in stocks, as major benchmarks have hugged a narrow range all week.
This week is on pace to be the slowest in stock trading since the week of New Year’s Day. Through to Wednesday, an average of 5.76 billion shares have changed hands. Daily volume this year has been averaging about 6.6 billion shares.
European stocks recovered from losses, giving a lift to US shares. Germany’s DAX gained 0.1%, its third gain in four sessions. France’s CAC 40 rose 0.3%.
In commodity markets, gold futures fell 0.4% to $1204.40 an ounce. Crude-oil futures rose 3% to $60.72 a barrel.
Local markets
Data points
Friday
Current ASX Trades
Broker Upgrades
Broker Downgrades
ASXSP200.I
ASXSP200 extended gains as S&P500 closed at a record high after weak economic figures (existing home sales and Philly Fed manufacturing index) indicated that US rate hike is expected to be delayed. The rally ended just five points from the resistance level at 5,681 and we need to see a clear break out above this level to see further upside momentum towards the next key resistance level 5,745.
AUDUSD
Despite disappointing US data, AUDUSD could not find decent strength and it traded in a relatively tight range between 0.7867 and 0.7912. The US dollar is showing signs of weakness but tonight’s US CPI (10:30pm) and some key speeches from Draghi (6pm) and Yellen (3am) are likely to have major impacts on the near-term direction of the US dollar. 0.7850 remains as a key support level and the resistance level is at 0.7933.
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