SYDNEY (Thomson Financial) - Australian shares are expected to open lower on Monday, extending losses for the eleventh straight session after another weak session on Wall Street on Friday.
After surging more than 180 points early in the session, the Dow Jones retreated to close down 59.91 points or 0.5 percent at 12,099.30 as nervous investors drew little comfort from the White House's 145 billion US dollar economic stimulus plan.
'With US shares falling again ... it looks like we are on the way to an eleventh consecutive down day in the Australian share market on Monday. Futures trading suggests a fall of around 75 points on Monday,' said Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy and chief economist at AMP Capital Investors.
The S&P/ASX 200 March futures contract ended the Friday session down 75 points at 5,687.
On Friday, the S&P/ASX 200 closed down 48.8 points or 0.8 percent at 5,747.3 and the All Ordinaries ended 57.6 points or 1 percent lower at 5,799.4.
A finish in negative territory today would mark the longest losing streak said January 1982, said Oliver.
'Out of interest, the last run of 12 consecutive down days was also in January 1982 as was the last run of 13 consecutive down days. The last run of 14 consecutive down days was in April 1965,' Oliver said.
In London, shares closed slightly lower on Friday for the fourth straight day after a rally on Wall Street faded. The FTSE 100 ended down 0.7 points at 5,901.7, having been as high as 6,030.9 and as low as 5,856.8.
Miners were in demand on bullish sentiment on longstanding bid situations, as well as gold prices rebounding above 880 US dollars an ounce and copper also recovering.
Rio Tinto jumped 221 pence to 4,700 pence while BHP Billiton was up 29 pence at 1,378 pence amid speculation BHP is planning to launch an improved bid for the smaller company this week.
The most-active February Comex gold contract firmed 1.20 US dollars to 881.70 US dollars an ounce as President George Bush's stimulus plan failed to soothe recession worries.
Oil futures rose as energy investors held out hope for the stimulus plan. Light, sweet crude for February delivery climbed 44 US cents to settle at 90.57 US dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Base metals on the London Metals Exchange were mostly lower amid concerns a US recession will reduce demand. Lead fell 2.3 percent, zinc was off 1.3 percent, copper dropped 0.8 percent and nickel eased 0.4 percent.
Looking ahead, the Australian Bureau of Statistics is due to release its fourth quarter producer price index this morning.
(1 US dollar = 1.14 Australian dollars)
allison.jackson@thomson.com - bhx/ng COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2007. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News.