Our market could find reprieve from yesterday's brutal sell-off as commodity prices rebounded and global equity markets ended mixed in overnight trade.
The S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) is expected to open flat this morning following its 1.7% plunge on Wednesday as investors got spooked by China's decision to devalue its currency for a second straight day.
European shares fell heavily but their US counterparts managed to eke out modest gains as the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil price jumped 0.5% to $US43.30 a barrel and iron ore firmed 0.2% to $US56.31 a tonne.
This could help major miners BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP) and Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) claw back some of their 4.3% and 2.8% respective losses yesterday.
On the earnings front, media conglomerate News Corp (ASX: NWS) delivered a fourth quarter result that was ahead of what the market was expecting thanks to good growth in its digital real estate and book publishing divisions.
It's local rival Fairfax Media Limited (ASX: FXJ) posted a full year profit of $83.2 million that was in-line with consensus forecast and said revenue was up around 2-3% in the first five weeks of the current financial year.
Net profit for telecommunications giant Telstra Corporation Limited (ASX: TLS) slipped 1% to $4.23 billion as revenue inched up 0.6% to $26.02 billion for the year ended June 30, 2015, while property developer Mirvac Group (ASX: MGR) is aiming for a 6% increase in profit for 2015-16 after it announced an operating profit of $454.8 million for the previous year.
Fellow property company Goodman Group (ASX: GMG) is guiding for similar growth for the current financial year as it reported an operating profit of $653 million. Liver cancer treatment developer Sirtex Medical Limited (ASX: SRX) released its full year earnings that showed a 69% surge in net profit to $40.3 million on the back of a 19.8% uplift in global sales of its treatment doses to 10,252 units.
Other companies that will hand in their earnings report card today include casino operator Crown Resorts Ltd (ASX: CWN), wagering company Tabcorp Holdings Limited (ASX: TAH), coal miner WHITEHAVEN COAL LIMITED (ASX: WHC) and biotech Acrux Limited (ASX: ACR).
Meanwhile, there are a number of companies trading without their divided entitlements today. They include protective products maker Ansell Limited (ASX: ANN) and shopping centre operators Westfield Corp Ltd (ASX: WFD) and Scentre Group Ltd (ASX: SCG).
On the corporate action front, private equity firm Blackstone is working on a deal to buy integrated steel maker Arrium Ltd's (ASX: ARI) grinding media products business Moly-Cop, reports The Australia; Rio Tinto's Australian coal mines is reported to have caught the eye of New Hope Corporation Limited (ASX: NHC), according to Bloomberg.
