SYDNEY (XFN-ASIA) - Share prices are expected to open lower in quiet pre-Christmas trading following mixed overseas leads, dealers said.
They said a firmer close on Wall Street on Friday where benign inflation data helped push the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a fresh all-time closing high will help sentiment but weakness in metal prices will weigh on miners.
But they said trading volumes ahead of the Christmas holiday period may be lighter with little in the way of fresh corporate news expected apart from ongoing corporate activity.
Dealers said attention is likely to be focused on the US this week where there will be a steady flow of data releases, including the current account deficit later in the global session which is expected to have widened by about 7 bln usd to around 226 bln usd in the third quarter.
On Tuesday US housing starts are seen rising about 3 pct to 1.530 mln unit annual rate in November after dropping 15.9 pct in October, the sharpest drop in more than 15 years.
Friday's release of US November core personal consumer expenditure will be of key interest, it being the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation with a rise of 0.6 pct expected after an increase of 0.2 pct in October.
The S&P/ASX 500 December futures contract, which expires on Thursday, ended its last session down 3.0 points at 5,575.0, suggesting a weak start to trading.
On Friday, share prices closed at fresh record highs as investors cheered a sharp rise on Wall Street Thursday.
The S&P/ASX 200 rose 2.3 points or 0.04 pct to close at 5,575.4, off a fresh intraday record high of 5,587.4.
The All Ordinaries Index added 6.1 points to end at an all-time peak of 5,557.0.
In New York, the Dow posted its second straight record close and all the major indexes closed the week with substantial gains. The blue chip index ended up 28.76 points or 0.23 pct at 12,445.52.
News Corp added 0.59 pct but National Australia Bank's American Depositary Receipts fell 0.59 pct.
In London, share prices ended the session firmer on Friday, having flirted with fresh six-year highs.
The FTSE 100 ended up up 32.0 points at 6,260.0. BHP Billiton finished up 0.01 pct while Rio Tinto slipped 0.49 pct.
Crude oil prices rose on Friday in response to the latest decision by OPEC to cut production quotas. Also buoying prices was delays to tanker traffic in the Gulf Coast as thick fog caused the closure of the Houston ship channel. The January crude contract rose 0.92 usd to settle at 63.43 usd a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Base metal prices fell in London trade as investors switched out of commodities and into surging equity markets.
Copper fell 1.9 pct to six-month lows with aluminum down 2.1 pct.
Precious metals were hardest hit in the shift away from commodities. The February benchmark Comex gold contract fell 11.90 usd to end at 619.00 usd an ounce.
(1 usd = 1.28 aud)
bruce.hextall@xfn.com
blh/mas