Reuters: Hot Stocks: Australia shares seen higher on US, Europe stimulus hopes

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Australia shares seen higher on US, Europe stimulus hopes Apr 29th 2013, 22:56 Tweet Share this Email Print Mon Apr 29, 2013 6:56pm EDT MELBOURNE, April 30 (Reuters) - Australian shares are set to open higher on growing hopes that the U.S. and European central banks will take steps to stimulate growth and on a bigger-than-expected hike in Australia and New Zealand Banking Group's first-half dividend. * Local share price index futures rose 0.4 percent to 5,150.0, a 24.2-point premium to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index close. The benchmark rose 0.6 percent to a seven-month high on Monday. * New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index rose 0.4 percent to 4,597.3 in early trade. * On Wall Street, the S&P 500 index ended at an all-time high on Monday as growth-oriented stocks, including energy and technology, lead the way to the index's sixth rise in the past seven sessions. * Copper rose on Monday, extending a recovery from 1-1/2 year lows hit last week supported by hopes for more U.S. and European central bank monetary easing and on signs of life in the physical markets. Gold also rose. * Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, the country's fourth-largest bank, may rise after announcing a higher-than-expected first-half dividend of 73 cents a share. It reported a first-half cash profit of A$3.18 billion, up 10 percent on a year earlier. * Westfield Group has sold its 50 percent stake in Almeida Junior Shopping Centers in Brazil to the Almeida family at book value. It bought the stake in 2011 for A$440 million in what was its first new market entry in more than a decade. * Whitehaven Coal is due to report its March quarter production, which will be watched closely for improvements in its Narrabri operation and any update on securing final federal approval for its Maules Creek project. ----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 2247 GMT ------------ INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG S&P 500 1593.61 0.72% 11.370 USD/JPY 97.87 0.12% 0.120 10-YR US TSY YLD 1.6667 -- 0.000 SPOT GOLD 1474.61 -0.08% -1.180 US CRUDE 94.43 -0.07% -0.070 DOW JONES 14818.75 0.72% 106.20 ASIA ADRS 143.23 1.05% 1.48 ------------------------------------------------------------- * S&P 500 closes at record, led by energy, tech shares * Oil jumps on stimulus hopes; U.S. export urge eyed * Gold up on cenbank stimulus hopes, eyes Fed meeting * Copper supported by policy-easing hopes For a digest of the day's business stories in Australian newspapers, double click on (Reporting by Sonali Paul; Editing by Richard Pullin) Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above.

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