At noon (AEDT) on Thursday, the currency was trading at 69.44 US cents, up from 68.64 cents on Wednesday.
Bargain hunters were most likely swooping in on the Aussie after it dropped to seven-year lows earlier in the week, OANDA Australia and Asia Pacific senior technical analyst Stuart McPhee said.
The local share market is more than 1 per cent higher following spirited morning trade.
Shaking off overnight market falls, investors bought back into stocks with the telecom, staples, materials and info tech sectors best performers.
Battered energy and mining stocks are also seeing some relief after a slight rebound in commodity prices, with the sectors up 1.5 and 2 per cent respectively.
All the big four banks are also positive, with best performer Westpac up nearly one per cent.
Staples Telstra is up more 2 per cent, Wesfarmers has added nearly three per cent and JB Hi-Fi is up 4.5 per cent.
At 10.10am (AEDT) on Thursday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 56.7 points, or 1.17 per cent, at 4,898.2, while the broader All Ordinaries index was up 54.0 points, or 1.10 per cent, at 4,950.9.
On the ASX 24, the share price index was up 48 points at 4,859, with 16,501 contracts traded.At 8.33am (AEDT) on Thursday, the share price index was up 14 points at 4,816.
WTI oil fell around 8 per cent overnight, before pulling back to be down 6.71 per cent, or $US1.91, at $US26.55 at 8.22am Thursday (AEDT).
Brent crude was down 1.56 per cent, or 45 US cents, at $28.31.
Locally, in economic news on Thursday, the HIA releases new home sales data for November.
In equities news, Woodside Petroleum is slated to release its fourth quarter production report, while Oz Minerals posts its December production report and Senex Energy has a December quarter report briefing.
NEW YORK – Wall Street has closed lower, with the S&P 500 hitting its lowest since February 2014 and extending this year’s selloff as oil prices continued to plummet.
The rout was across the board: all 30 Dow components and all 10 major S&P sectors were in the red, with nine down more than two per cent.
The New York Stock Exchange recorded 1,387 stocks hitting new 52-week lows, while 866 sank to new lows on the Nasdaq, the most on a single day since August 24 for both exchanges.
The beaten-down S&P energy sector’s five per cent fall led the decliner, with US crude prices at one point were down around eight per cent and Brent crude 4.7 per cent lower as a supply glut bumped up against bearish financial news that deepened worries over demand.
“For your average investor, when they see today’s news, it’s going to spur some angst and the big question that everybody has is ‘Should I be in cash?’,” said Kim Forrest, senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh.
“The fear is ‘Is tomorrow going to bring more selling?’. People are not even thinking about today, they’re thinking about tomorrow,” she said.
LONDON – Britain’s blue-chip equity index has entered “bear market” territory after falling more than 20 per cent from its record highs in April, with concerns about China triggering a sharp decline in commodities-related stocks.
“The FTSE is now in a bear market,” said Brenda Kelly, an analyst at London Capital Group. “It’s not a pretty sight with every single sector in the red.”
The UK mining and energy indexes both slumped 5.6 per cent to their lowest levels in about 12 years, with a sharp decline in oil and metals prices scaring investors away from commodities stocks.
Eleven major banks, including Commonwealth Bank of Australia, UBS and HSBC, say they have tested a system that could make trading much faster and cheaper, using the technology that underpins crypto-currency bitcoin.
HONG KONG – Asian stock markets fell as the relentless slump in oil prices continued to drag on risk assets.
“I am quite pessimistic about the equity markets for the next two to three months. I do not see a 2008-style scenario, but I do see a bear market coming,” said Andreas Clenow, hedge fund trader and principal at ACIES Asset Management, suggesting a further 10 per cent fall to come.
Risk aversion boosted appetite for the yen, a traditional safe haven, which rose more than 1 per cent against the US dollar to its highest level in a year, while sterling hit its lowest since early 2014.
“This is a different kind of dollar strength altogether … this is quite clearly being driven by declining risk appetite, higher market volatility and lower commodity prices,” said Aroop Chatterjee, a director of research at Barclays in London.
WASHINGTON – US consumer prices unexpectedly fell in December as the cost of energy goods dropped and services rose moderately, a trend that if sustained suggests inflation could be slow to rise toward the Federal Reserve’s target.
US builders started fewer homes in December, but prior gains meant that residential construction ended 2015 at its healthiest level in eight years.
ENERGY
Oil has tumbled to 13-year lows.
US crude plunged to a low of $US26.30, its lowest since May 2003, after the International Energy Agency warned the market could “drown in oversupply”.
WTI at one point was down around eight per cent before recovering much of the lost ground.
At 8.33am Thursday (AEDT) it was down was down 6.7 per cent, or $US1.91, at $US26.56. Brent was down 1.88 per cent, or 54 US cents, at $28.22.
PRECIOUS METALS
Gold has risen 2 per cent, benefiting as global equity markets fell to two-and-a-half-year lows and oil prices continued their relentless slump to a 13-year low, leading other commodity markets broadly lower.
However, slow physical demand from Asia kept the metal from returning to this month’s peak of $US1,112 an ounce, traders said.
“The struggle is this fundamental headwind which is (lower) inflation expectations. Gold is often thought of as an inflation hedge,” Haworth said.
“There’s not a lot of appetite to bid up gold when you don’t have an inflation issue.”
BASE METALS
Copper prices have fallen amid another relentless slide in oil prices and persistent worries over growth in China, though losses were limited by hopes Beijing would unveil more economic stimulus measures.
A warning from the world’s energy watchdog that the oil market could “drown in oversupply” sent crude prices to another 13 year low, deterring investors from commodity funds that include metals.
“Concerns over China’s growth are driving all of these markets, but compared to oil, copper isn’t in any way as oversupplied and won’t be for a while,” said Caroline Baine, senior commodities economist at Capital Economics.
“It’s not just hopes for stimulus that should support (metals), it looks (like) China’s economy has stabilised,” she added.
ASX stocks to watch Thursday, January 21
BHP – BHP BILLITON
FMG – FORTESCUE METALS GROUP
RIO – RIO TINTO
Mining company shares could again be inline for a selloff with the price of iron ore again falling.
ORG – ORIGIN ENERGY
OSH – OILSEARCH
STO – SANTOS
WPL – WOODSIDE PETROLEUM
Energy companies are likely to again be in the firing line with oil prices plummeting, with WTI at one point down around 8 per cent.
OZL – OZ MINERALS
Oz Minerals is scheduled to release its December production report.
WPL – WOODSIDE PETROLEUM
Woodside Petroleum is slated to release its fourth quarter production report.
AAP
