ASX closes firmer in quiet trade
Chinese stimulus hopes and improved US data lifted the Australian sharemarket into the black in quiet trade ahead of the US public holiday tonight.
Following the marginal rise to a record high on Wall Street on Friday the S&P/ASX gained 20 points, or 0.36 per cent, to 5512.8 points as a bounce in iron ore futures sparked bargain hunting in miners.
Sentiment was boosted after Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said the nation would fine-tune policy to support the economy struggling to rebalance from infrastructure investment.
The Shanghai composite index was up 0.2 per cent at the close of the ASX.
In Tokyo the Nikkei index was up 0.8 per cent.
Dalian iron ore futures were up one per cent today while spot iron ore fell 1.3 per cent to US97.50 a tonne on Friday.
Despite easier monetary conditions in China, Westpac economist Huw McKay said credit supply remained an issue for those parts of the corporate sector where excess capacity was evident, such as thermal coal mining, parts of heavy industry, property developers with a heavy exposure to over-built fourth tier cities and peripheral regions.
The Australian dollar was steady at US92.35¢ but Government 10-year yields slipped 3.3 points to 3.75 per cent as bond markets failed to follow the exuberance in global equity markets. US 10-years slipped 2 points to 2.53 per cent.
Signalling ongoing loss of global growth momentum the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy analysis said world trade fell 0.5 per cent in March following a 0.7 per cent decline in February, with most of the slowdown in emerging markets imports.
The report said exports from advanced economies fell, especially from Japan and the eurozone.
This outlook was confirmed by the German IFO survey on Friday where all there readings -business climate, expectations and current conditions - fell versus April and came in below expectations.
Attention today is on European Central Bank president Mario Draghi's speech for further hints the eurozone was shifting towards quantitative easing.
Gold was little changed at $US1292 an ounce while copper climbed 0.7 per cent to $US6945 a tonne.
More to come…
