A strong night on Wall Street should help to boost the local S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) this morning, with the futures market pointing to a strong rise at the opening bell.
Here's a quick recap:
- FTSE 100 (UK): down 0.63%
- DAX (Germany): down 0.19%
- CAC 40 (France): down 0.11%
- Dow Jones (USA): up 0.68%
- NASDAQ (USA): up 1.43%
The BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP) share price, Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) share price, and Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) share price could all remain in the spotlight today after the iron ore price soared another 4.4%, according to The Metal Bulletin.
According to The Australian Financial Review, the iron ore price has advanced almost 10% this week due to a flood of suspected buying from Chinese steel mills.
Oil prices also rose strongly, while the gold price jumped around 0.2%. The Australian dollar is fetching US76.36 cents.
The Sirtex Medical Limited (ASX: SRX) share price will be back in focus again today, as will the Medibank Private Ltd (ASX: MPL) share price. Sirtex soared on Wednesday after it announced cost-cutting initiatives, despite also announcing major write-downs. The Medibank Private share price rose off the back of a positive research note from Macquarie.
Myer Holdings Ltd (ASX: MYR) also rose strongly, as did Southern Cross Media Group Ltd (ASX: SXL).
Finally, Downer EDI Limited (ASX: DOW) continued to increase its stake in Spotless Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: SPO) yesterday, upping its share from 'greater than 50%' on Tuesday to 59.64% on Wednesday.
Before getting started on your day, be sure to check out these two articles:
