Australian shares outlook - Higher on positive offshore leads

Australian shares outlook - Higher on positive offshore leads

	Published : Fri, 14 Sep 2007 00:20 By : Agencies Print this Story

SYDNEY (Thomson Financial) - Australian shares are likely to open higher Friday as investors react to a positive trading session on Wall Street where concerns about the credit crunch eased.

'Volumes maybe a little light but there is less nervousness about the subprime problems,' said Stuart Smith, private client advisor at Bell Potter Securities.

He said with the futures market pointing up there is likely to be a positive start to trading.

The S&P/ASX 200 September futures contract ended its overnight session up 66.0 points at 6,306.0 points.

On Thursday, the S&P/ASX 200 ended up 10.3 points, or 0.2 percent, at 6,230.6 and the All Ordinaries index gained 8.6 points or 0.1 percent, at 6,244.6.

In New York, shares advanced solidly on Thursday helped by easing worries about credit

markets and weekly jobless numbers lower than had been expected.

McDonald's Corp closed at an all-time high after increasing its dividend by 50 percent a day after reporting stronger-than-expected sales for August.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 133.23 points or 1.0 percent at 13,424.88. News Corp shares rose 0.9 percent.

In London, shares were also firmer as news from across the Atlantic was mostly positive. The FTSE 100 ended up 57.7 points, or 0.9 percent, at 6,363.9.

BHP Billiton added 2.6 percent and Rio Tinto rose 1.6 percent.

Crude oil prices soared to fresh record levels on Thursday after Hurricane Humberto shut shipping channels and forced the closure of some US Gulf refiners. The October crude oil contract rose 18 cents to 80.09 US dollars per barrel after setting a new record of 80.20 dollars during trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Base metal prices posted solid gains on the London Metal Exchange, buoyed by a weaker greenback. Zinc rose 4.5 percent and nickel gained 3.0 percent.

Gold succumbed to further profit-taking on Thursday despite a firmer oil price and a weaker US dollar. The December gold contract fell 2.80 dollars to 717.90 dollars an ounce after trading as high as 721.20 dollars on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

(1 US dollar = 1.20 Australian dollars)

bruce.hextall@thomson.com

bhx/ms

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