Stocks set to gain as earnings flow - Sydney Morning Herald

• Join the Markets Live blog from 8am


• Earnings season - All the results

Australian shares are set for a modest early gain after European markets posted strong gains on surging German investor confidence and Wall Street hit a five-year high.

On the ASX24 shortly after 6am, the SPI futures contract was 7 points higher to 5067. The Aussie dollar has reached $US1.036, up from $US1.033 late yesterday. It was also buying 96.7 yen, 77.38 euro cents and 67.17 pence.

Earnings season hits high gear today with BHP, Seven West Media, Woodside, Fortescue, Suncorp, Toll and SEEK among the companies due to report first half earnings.

Making news today

In economics:

• ABS Wage price index for December


• Westpac-Melbourne Institute Leading Indexes of Economic Activity

In company news:

• The following companies reports first half earnings: BHP Billiton, Seven West Media, Fortescue Metals Group, Kingsgate Consolidated, Suncorp Group, APA Group, Toll Holdings, Ridley Corporation, Skilled Group, GWA Group, Super Retail Group, Aurizon, Retail Food Group


• Woodside Petroleum full year results


• Aristocrat Leisure annual general meeting


• Sydney Airport January Traffic Results


• SEEK interim results


• SMS Management & Technology interim results

Analyst rating changes:

• Coca-Cola Amatil raised to overweight at JPMorgan


• Southern Cross Media raised to neutral at JPMorgan


• Mount Gibson Iron raised to outperform at RBC Capital


• Monadelphous cut to neutral at CIMB


• Cardno cut to buy at BBY Ltd


• Boart Longyear cut to sell from neural at UBS


• Pacific Brands cut to neutral at Macquarie


• Macquarie Atlas cut to hold at Deutsche Bank

Offshore overnight

United States

With more than two hours left in the session, US stocks were higher, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to its highest level in five years, on optimism over dealmaking and data showing rising investor confidence in Germany.

Key numbers:

• S&P 500 added 0.5% to 1527.03


• Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.3% to 14,023.36


• Nasdaq composite added 0.33% to 3202.62

Europe

European stocks rallied on Tuesday, propelled by news of soaring investor sentiment in eurozone powerhouse Germany.

Key numbers:

• London’s FTSE 100 added 0.96% to 6379.07


• Frankfurt’s DAX 30 added 1.62% to 7752.45


• In Paris’s CAC 40 added 1.88% to 3735.82

Asia

Asian markets fell as Tokyo slipped following an uptick in the yen while Chinese shares fell on fears Beijing may act to rein in soaring property prices.

Key numbers:

• Japan's Nikkei 225 lost 0.31% to 11,372.34


• Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 1.02% to 23,143.91


• China's Shanghai composite lost 1.60% to 2382.91

How we fared yesterday

The Australian share market closed at its highest level in more than four years, with gains across the board.

At close on Tuesday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index had lifted 18.5 points, or 0.37 per cent, to 5,081.9 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index had added 18.1 points, or 0.36 per cent, to 5,101 points.

BusinessDay with agencies