Reuters: Hot Stocks: Australia shares set to rise on strong Wall St, focus turns to US jobs

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Australia shares set to rise on strong Wall St, focus turns to US jobs Aug 1st 2013, 23:13 SYDNEY | Thu Aug 1, 2013 7:13pm EDT SYDNEY Aug 2 (Reuters) - Australian shares are set to open higher on Friday after Wall Street notched strong gains and metals prices rose, though buying could be tempered ahead of key U.S. non-farm payrolls data due later in the global day. * Local share price index futures rose 0.8 percent, but they were still a 13.5-point discount to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index close. The benchmark rose 0.2 percent on Thursday. * New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index rose 0.4 percent in early trade. * The Dow and S&P 500 hit record closing highs on Thursday, with the S&P 500 topping 1,700 after strong data on factory growth and as major central banks said they would keep monetary stimulus in place. * Copper prices rose to their highest level in a week on Thursday following upbeat Chinese and European manufacturing data, and with a dovish Federal Reserve statement sparking hope of a delay in paring U.S. stimulus measures. * U.S. jobs data due later on Friday could offer further clues on the timing of the Fed's stimulus reduction. * Gold fell on Thursday, its fourth consecutive daily drop hit by strong U.S. factory data and a dollar rally after the European Central Bank chief said euro-zone interest rates will remain low for an extended period of time. * In Australia, the big banks dropped more than 2 percent initially on Wednesday after media reported the Australian government was considering a levy on deposits to shore up its budget. Australia's treasurer Chris Bowen confirmed later he was in discussion with banks about the levy. * Treasurer Chris Bowen will update the country's budget forecasts on Friday ahead of national elections due to be called at any time. Bowen is warning of a further slump in government tax revenue since the May budget, which was delivered by his predecessor Wayne Swan. * Australia's Q2 producer price inflation will be released at 11:30 AEST (0130 GMT) ----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 2300 GMT ------------ INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG S&P 500 1706.87 1.25% 21.140 USD/JPY 99.41 -0.12% -0.120 10-YR US TSY YLD 2.7079 -- 0.000 SPOT GOLD 1303.29 -0.35% -4.550 US CRUDE 107.83 -0.06% -0.060 DOW JONES 15628.02 0.83% 128.48 ASIA ADRS 141.48 2.01% 2.79 ------------------------------------------------------------- * Dow, S&P 500 end at highs after data, stimulus in place * U.S. oil jumps 2.5 pct, Brent narrows on economic data * Gold falls as ECB rate review, strong US data boost $ * Copper at one-week high on upbeat Chinese factory data 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 Thuy Ong; Editing by Shri Navaratnam) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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