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Words from the Federal Reserve confirming interest rate cuts are on the agenda soon, gave the market confidence to send the S&P 500 up nearly 0.8 per cent to a new record high above 5200 points.
The Dow Jones added a per cent on the previous trading session to also hit new highs and the Nasdaq added 1.25 per cent in late trade to be again near its record – set only last month.
Analysts are widely predicting US interest rate cuts will begin in July – with three quarter of a per cent slashed before the end of the year.
Back on home soil, the ASX200’s expected to add about 0.8 per cent off the back of this news.
New Zealand dairy cooperative Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund (SX:FSF) has announced profits up 23 per cent in the six months to the end of January, and it’s paying a 15 cent dividend – up from 10 cents last time around; and, Sigma Healthcare (ASX:SIG) has released its results, showing net revenue’s down more than 9 per cent (the company in part blaming reduced RAT test sales) but EBITDA’s up 3.9 per cent ahead of its merger with Chemist Warehouse.
Legacy Minerals Holdings (ASX:LGM) has acquired an exploration licence from White Rock Resources for $190,000. The resource holds 356,000 ounces of gold and 23.3 million ounces of silver, and has historical drilling results for copper as well.
One Aussie dollar is buying US65.8 cents, Brent crude is trading at US$86 a barrel, gold has added 1.35 per cent to be above $2186 an ounce, iron ore has gained 3.8 per cent to $108.50 and natural gas is back just below US$1.70 per Million British thermal units.
