Reuters: Hot Stocks: Australia shares seen up on strong bank earnings, ECB rate cut

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Australia shares seen up on strong bank earnings, ECB rate cut May 2nd 2013, 23:16 SYDNEY | Thu May 2, 2013 7:16pm EDT SYDNEY May 3 (Reuters) - Australian shares are set to open higher, buoyed by strong bank earnings and supported by a cut in European interest rates to a record low and a positive lead from Wall Street. * Local share price index futures rose 0.5 percent to a 19-point premium to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index close. The benchmark fell 0.7 percent on Thursday. * New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index fell 0.5 percent to 4,550.8 in early trade. * Westpac Banking Corp, Australia's third-largest lender, reported a forecast-beating 10 percent rise in first-half profit on Friday, as the bank's Australian business recorded double digit earnings growth. * Macquarie Group Ltd, Australia's top investment bank, beat forecasts with a 17 percent rise in full-year profit as cost cutting and strength in its annuity-style businesses outweighed lingering weakness in capital markets. * The European Central Bank cut interest rates for the first time in 10 months, by a quarter percentage point to a record low 0.50 percent, and held out the possibility of further policy action to support the recession-hit euro zone economy. * U.S. stocks closed about 1 percent higher on Thursday, led by tech shares, after weekly jobless claims figures pointed to improving labor market conditions a day before the closely watched monthly payroll report. * Gold rose as the European Central Bank cut its interest rate for the first time in 10 months, affirming the metal's inflation-hedge appeal a day after the Federal Reserve said it would keep up its bond purchases to spur growth. * London copper also rose slightly as investors bought after recent declines after the ECB cut interest rates to an all-time low, although gains were capped by worries about global growth and surplus supply. * Australia's first quarter Producer Price Index (PPI) is due out later on Friday. ----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 2253 GMT ------------ INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG S&P 500 1597.59 0.94% 14.890 USD/JPY 97.95 0% 0.000 10-YR US TSY YLD 1.6238 -- 0.000 SPOT GOLD 1466.7 0.03% 0.460 US CRUDE 93.87 -0.13% -0.120 DOW JONES 14831.58 0.89% 130.63 ASIA ADRS 142.59 0.66% 0.93 ------------------------------------------------------------- * Wall St closes up on tech gains, S&P near 1,600 * Oil pushes up toward $103 after ECB rate cut * Gold up after ECB rate cut but physical demand slows * Copper rises after ECB rate cut but gloomy economy weighs For a digest of the day's business stories in Australian newspapers, double click on (Reporting by Thuy Ong; Editing by Richard Pullin) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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