The Australian equity opened slightly lower Thursday after the U.S. stocks closed small down. The Dow finished down 15 points to settle at 12571 after a chopping between negative and positive territory throughout the session while the S&P500 index dropped 0.90 of a point to close 1325.84 as investors show concern that the US government will fail to increase the debt limit overshadowed higher than estimated earnings at Apple Inc.
The EURUSD (see above chart) rose to a week high of 1.4270, trading up from an overnight low of 1.4206 after the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the French President Nicolas Sarkozy reached a joint position on Greece’s debt situation before today’s summit.
The AUDUSD traded from an overnight low of 1.0722 to as high as 1.0775 early in the Asian session. It is thought the pair will trade sideways till there is more updates from Europe and the US on their debt problems.
WTI crude rose for the second day running trading up 0.7% after the Energy Department said stockpiles fell 3.73 million barrels to 351.7 million last week.
| INDICES | |
| Last Traded | |
| SPI 200 |
4535 |
| S&P500 Index |
1325.80 |
| Dow Jones Indus. Avg |
12571.90 |
| FTSE 100 Index |
5853.80 |
| COMMODITIES | |
| Last Traded | |
| Gold |
98.50 |
| Oil (Nymex) |
1598.20 |
| CURRENCIES | |
|
Last Traded |
|
| AUDUSD |
1.0761 |
| EURUSD |
1.4259 |
| GBPUSD |
1.6165 |
| USDJPY |
79.80 |
Source Bloomberg, Dow Jones News

