Monday, July 12, 2010

Shares to firm as U.S. earnings eyed

WELLINGTON: Asian stocks are likely to make a positive start on Monday, July 12 as investors look forward with optimism to the U.S. corporate earnings season which begins this week.

The main U.S. indexes rose between 0.7 percent and 1 percent on Friday to finish their best week in a year, with TECHNOLOGY [] shares among the best performers afer Google Inc was given permission to continue running its Chinese search engine.

Alcoa Inc kicks off the earnings season later on Monday, which analysts expect will see an overall increase in earnings of 27 percent according to Thomson Reuters data.

Asian stocks listed on Wall Street were 0.95 percent higher on Friday.

British shares gained 0.5 percent while European shares <.FTEU3> were 0.6 percent stronger, as miners gained from stronger commodity prices while banks and insurers also gained.

A rally in the euro stalled after hitting technical resistance, while high-yielding currencies such as the Aussie dollar held steady after last week's strong run on the more buoyant mood of markets. The yen was weaker against the euro and the U.S. dollar.

The weaker currency will help the Japanese market, although there may be some selling pressure following the government's loss of the upper house election, which might hit its hopes of curbing public debt.

Nikkei futures traded in Chicago were 60 points above the last closing level in Osaka.

Australian shares are seen making a more subdued start, with share index futures gaining 8 points to 4,392, a 4.3 point discount to the close of the underlying S&P/ASX 20 index. - Reuters


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