Expect a listless start to trade for the month as mixed offshore leads, a slow start to the August reporting season and Australia's interest rate decision tomorrow will force investors to the sidelines.
The futures market is pointing to a flat open for the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) as rises in European exchanges were offset by falls on Wall Street and commodity markets.
This will likely mean that resource stocks will underperform and it's iron ore miners like Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) and Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) that will be in focus as the price of the steel making ingredient suffered its worst fall in nearly a month when it shed 4% to $US53.41 a tonne on Friday.
Oil stocks like Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) and Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) will also be under the pump following a 2.9% fall in the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil price to $US47.12 a barrel as Iran said it could ramp up oil exports in days after sanctions are lifted.
While the copper price lost 0.6% to $US2.36 a pound, Sandfire Resources NL (ASX: SFR) could find support as drilling as its Monty copper-gold project intersected a narrow zone of massive sulphides.
A few companies are also in the spotlight for potential misbehaviour. US authorities are investigating allegations that Computershare Limited's (ASX: CPU) subsidiary Georgeson has paid brides to obtain confidential market information, while Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX: ANZ) has fired an employee that's linked to the interest rate fixing scandal being probed by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) even as ASIC accuses the bank of stonewalling its investigation.
Pawnshop and payday lender Cash Converters International Ltd (ASX: CCV) will resume trading after the company was served with a writ for a class action claim on the fees it charges for making short-term personal loans.
In other corporate news, nickel miner Panoramic Resources Ltd (ASX: PAN) said it sold its Mt Henry gold project to Metals X Limited (ASX: MLX) in a deal that values the project at $24.8 million, while property development company Cedar Woods Properties Limited (ASX: CWP) reported that the Queensland government has given approval of an initial 480 lots within the Upper Kendron Development.
Mining and civil construction company Maca Ltd (ASX: MLD) said it won a contract to provide services to Avanco Resources Limited.'s (ASX:AVB) Antas North Copper project that's worth $120 million over five years.
Accounting software company XERO FPO NZ (ASX: XRO) will also be in the spotlight as it released its quarterly cash flow result this morning, which shows a drop in cash levels to $NZ39.5 million in the three months to June compared to $NZ58.9 million in the previous quarter.
Investors are losing patience waiting for XERO to turn a profit as the company invests heavily to pursue growth.
