A positive lead from Wall Street and a jump in commodity prices may not be enough to lift our market into the black this morning as investors remain wary about sluggish global growth.
The futures market is forecasting a flat start to the trading day for the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO), although I won't be surprised to see our market finish in positive territory given the wide intra-day swings we have been experiencing over the past few weeks.
The potential advance is likely to be led by resource stocks as the weakening US dollar lifted the West Texas Intermediate oil price by 3.6% to $US45.73 a barrel and copper advanced 0.6% to $US2.4515 a pound, while iron ore got a second tailwind from tightening supply of the commodity to hit a 10-week high when it jumped 1.4% to $US59.01 a tonne.
The greenback fell on the growing belief that the global turmoil will prompt the US Federal Reserve to keep interest rates at a record low at its meeting next week.
Companies most impacted from falling commodities are energy company Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) and iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG), which should enjoy good support today.
But they won't be the only ones that may be in investors' good books. New Zealand-based dairy group A2 MILK FPO NZ (ASX: A2M) could see its share price bounce after fund manager Perpetual Limited (ASX: PPT) revealed it has increased its stake in the company to 8.82% from 7.82% following the stock's 8.5% decline over the past months.
Corporate interest could also give hospital operator Healthscope Ltd (ASX: HSO) a boost with The Australian reporting that Chinese investment conglomerate Fosun International is considering buying TPG's and Carlyle's stake in the company after CT Healthscope Holdings sold 350 million shares in the company yesterday.
Investors will also be mulling capital raising updates from Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX: ANZ) and Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA). ANZ said it has raised around $720 million from its share purchase plan to bolster its balance sheet, while CBA announced that half of eligible shareholders have taken up their new share entitlements with the bank securing $1.5 billion in fresh capital.
Around 21 million share entitlements not taken up by shareholders will be offered to professional investors and the price for the entitlements will be determined via a bookbuild this morning. I suspect the unused entitlements will fetch more than the original $71.50 offer price and that will be a positive for CBA's share price today.
Pharmaceutical goods suppler Sigma Pharmaceutical Limited (ASX: SIP) could also be one of the winners today after two brokers upgraded their recommendation on the stock following its half-year result yesterday. As I suggested, the stock's 9% grossed-up yield and undemanding valuation makes it an enticing proposition.
There's also plenty of news from our gold producers. Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX: NCM) has won approval from the New South Wales government to increase its processing capacity at its Cadia project, while Doray Minerals Limited (ASX: DRM) has released its full year profit results.
Finally, this is the last day to buy the following stocks for their dividends. Construction giant Cimic Group Ltd (ASX:CIM) will trade without rights to its 46 cents fully franked dividend after today as media companies Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd (ASX: NEC) and News Corp (ASX:NWS) will go ex-div on their 5 cents and 14.23 cents a share dividends, respectively.
Nine Entertainment's dividend is fully franked but News Corp does not pay a franking credit.
