Reuters: Hot Stocks: Australia shares set for cautious start, miners to gain on metal prices

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Australia shares set for cautious start, miners to gain on metal prices Jul 31st 2013, 23:14 SYDNEY | Wed Jul 31, 2013 7:14pm EDT SYDNEY Aug 1 (Reuters) - Australian shares are set for a cautious start on Thursday, after Wall Street ended flat with the Federal Reserve giving no hint of imminent stimulus tapering, but miners will see some support on firmer metal prices. * Australia's share price index futures was nearly flat, adding 2 points to 5,012.0, a 40.0-point discount to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index close. The local benchmark inched up on Wednesday, underpinned by yield plays in banks. * New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index was up 0.8 points at 4,538.7 in early trade. * The S&P 500 finished a volatile session nearly flat on Wednesday as the Fed gave no hint that a reduction in the pace of its bond-buying program is imminent. * Copper rose more than 2 percent on Wednesday, supported by upbeat economic data from the United States which boosted market sentiment. * Toll roads operator Transurban Group said its net profit for the year ending June 30 was A$174.5 million on a statutory basis, up 198 percent on the prior year. * Australia introduced a 12.5 percent tax hike for tobacco on Thursday, a measure set to fill budget holes. ----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 2257 GMT ------------ INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG S&P 500 1685.73 -0.01% -0.230 USD/JPY 97.86 -0% 0.000 10-YR US TSY YLD 2.5876 -- 0.000 SPOT GOLD 1324.29 0.14% 1.800 US CRUDE 105.15 0.11% 0.120 DOW JONES 15499.54 -0.14% -21.05 ASIA ADRS 138.69 0.06% 0.09 ------------------------------------------------------------- * S&P 500 ends flat after Fed keeps easy money in play * U.S. crude oil higher driven by late technical rally * Gold down for day, ends July with big monthly gain * Copper up, strong US data helps ahead of Fed decision For a digest of the day's business stories in Australian newspapers, double click on (Australia/New Zealand bureaux; +61 2 9373 1800/+64 4 471 4234) (Reporting by Maggie Lu Yueyang; Editing by Joseph Radford) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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