Stock Market Hopeful

With the hope that the US Federal reserve meeting this Tuesday and Wednesday regarding a possible stimulus because of the slow growth of the US economy, the Australian stock market opened higher today. Consumer spending has slowed down during the second quarter of the year.

Furthermore, the leaders of France and Germany issued a joint statement last Friday stating their commitment to the preservation of the Euro and to do everything they can to keep the eurozone intact.

The opening numbers showed that the Australian dollar was at $US1.047 while the SPI is 47 points higher at 4220. Gold price also rose by 0.5 percent with $US1622.96 to an ounce.

According to Suncorp Bank’s financial markets analyst Darryl Conroy, the Australian market looks strong and will open with “20 odd point gains.”

It is possible that the mining sector will have big gains as last week results showed that Rio has an added 4.48 per cent while BHP added 3.25 per cent.

With the possibility that the European Central Bank (ECB) shall act upon the Europe’s debt crisis, the Australian future prices have gone down. Meanwhile, the September 10-year bond futures contract traded with a yield of 2.990 percent at 97.010 from 97.090.

On the other hand, the September 3-year bond futures contract was down from 97.590 to 97.480.

In other news:

• S&P/ASX200 index is gaining grounds by 31.7 points (0.75 per cent) at 4241.5

• All Ordinaries index grew by 29.3 points (0.69 per cent) at 4263.7

• The September ASX 24 share price index futures contract increased by 30 points at 4,203 with a total of 10,198 contracts traded.