5 things you need to know about the Australian sharemarket today

S&P/ASX 200 tipped for strong start, following gains on Wall Street overnight

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Welcome to Friday. Here are the five things I'm looking at today on the Australian sharemarket.

  1. The S&P/ ASX 200(Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) is expected to post a strong start this morning, following further gains on Wall Street overnight.The Dow Jones gained 1.2% while the broader S&P 500 and tech-heavy NASDAQ climbed 1% as oil rebounded and news that giant pharmaceutical company Pfizer is buying Hospira for around US$15 billion.

    Oil prices reversed some of yesterday's fall, with Brent Crude Oil gaining 4.8% to US$56.73 per barrel while the WTI benchmark gained 5% to US$50.85.

    The Australian dollar is up slightly against the US dollar and is currently buying 78.01 US cents.

  2. A cheap Australian dollar has seen a wave of foreign money flood into the Australian share market according to investment bank Citi's co-head of Australia and New Zealand equities Adam Levis.Guess where the funds are going? I'll give you a clue. One of them is Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA). Shares in Australia's largest bank have surged more than 10% since January 22 – above the S&P/ASX 200's rise of 7.7%.

    The great global hunt for yield continues.

  3. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp (ASX: NWS) has seen its second quarter revenues rise 1.9%, but its Australian newspapers saw sales fall a massive 8%, as advertising revenues continue to fall. Fairfax Media Limited (ASX: FXJ) may well post similar results for its Australian newspapers.Pay TV provider Foxtel, which is 50% owned by Newscorp, has lifted subscriber numbers – but that was mainly from slashing subscription prices. Revenues flat.
  4. Tweet of the Day

    Another mining services company forced to write down the value of its assets. Ouch..

  5. Stock of the Day– brought to you by Ryan Newman – REA Group Limited (ASX: REA). The owner of realestate.com.au property portal reported outstanding half year results yesterday, and shares jumped above $50 per share. Find out more here.
Motley Fool writer/analyst Mike King doesn't own shares in any companies mentioned. You can follow Mike on Twitter @TMFKinga

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