Australian share prices are set to rise on Thursday, buoyed by a stronger finish on Wall Street, but corporate results are likely to continue to set the tone for the rest of the session.
Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) futures trading indicates the S&P/ASX 200 index will begin about 0.35% higher when the market opens at 10 am AEST (12 am GMT Tuesday) on a day when some of the largest companies are scheduled to announce their results.
But it may not be enough to fully erase losses from the previous day when the market was dragged down by the financials and utilities sectors following disappointing reports from the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) and AGL Energy (ASX:AGL).
At the time of writing, the S&P/ASX 200 September share price index (SPI) contract was trading 31 points higher than the previous settlement at 8,825 points, less than the drop on Wednesday.
As the reporting season continues, companies scheduled to announce results today include Telstra (ASX: TLS), Suncorp (ASX: SUN), Origin Energy (ASX: ORG), ASX (ASX: ASX) and Westpac (ASX: WBC).
“So the SPI features are pointing up but much will depend on investors’ reaction to those results and whether the financial sector can bounce back after the slump yesterday,” Chief CommSec Economist Ryan Felsman said.
He said Westpac would be in focus given the significant impact that the earnings announcement by fellow Big Four bank Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) had on the financial sector and overall market yesterday.
Origin may also carry some sway after the negative effect of competitor AGL's result yesterday and in light of the fact that energy shares performed well overnight despite oil prices falling to a two-month low.
United States stock indices continued to climb on Wednesday (Thursday AEST) with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite reaching new highs and the Dow Jones Industrial Average recording a strong gain on hopes of more interest rate cuts.
The Dow rose 1%, the S&P 500 0.3% and the Nasdaq just 0.1%.
The Australian sharemarket ended lower on Wednesday as profit results in the banking and utilities sectors weighed on sentiment, with the S&P/ASX 200 index dropping 0.6% to end at 8,827.10.
In fixed interest markets, yields on Australian Government bonds were flat for 10-year paper at 4.20% and fell by 0.24% to 3.288% for two-year paper.
