SYDNEY (Thomson Financial) - Australian shares are expected to open higher on Tuesday with sentiment boosted by Wall Street's continued rise overnight after JPMorgan Chase & Co raised its offer for Bear Stearns, which eased some concerns about the troubled credit markets.
JPMorgan lifted its offer for Bear Stearns to 10 US dollars per share from 2 dollars to soothe Bear Stearns shareholders upset over its earlier offer, as well as assuage fears that valuations in the financial sector could fall further.
A rise in February housing data, instead of an expected decline, also helped push Wall Street higher for the second consecutive session.
The Dow Jones rose 187.32 points to 12,548.64 overnight, after rising more than 260 points on Thursday, the last day of trading before the Easter holiday break.
'We would expect to have a good day on our markets today after Wall Street had two solid rallies,' said Juliette Saly, a market analyst at CommSec.
'Our financial stocks should do well after JPMorgan Chase revised its bailout offer for Bear Stearns. But we may see our gains capped a little bit on lower commodity prices,' she said.
Oil and gold both fell overnight, while base metals were lower on the London Metal Exchange (LME) on Thursday, the last day of trading before the Easter break. London will resume trading today.
On Thursday, the S&P/ASX 200 closed down 161.6 points or 3.1 percent at the day's low of 5,127.5, off a high of 5,242.5. The All Ordinaries lost 166.8 points or 3.1 percent to 5,182.4.
The S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.5 percent last week, its third straight weekly decline.
The Australian market was closed on Friday and Monday for the Easter holidays.
Overnight, light sweet crude oil for May delivery fell 98 US cents to settle at 100.86 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as a stronger dollar diminished the appeal of energy and other commodities futures.
The most-active April Comex gold contract fell by 1.30 dollars an ounce to 918.70 dollars.
(1 US dollar = 1.10 Australian dollars)
yuinmunn.szetoh@thomson.com - ys/ng COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2008. 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.
JPMorgan lifted its offer for Bear Stearns to 10 US dollars per share from 2 dollars to soothe Bear Stearns shareholders upset over its earlier offer, as well as assuage fears that valuations in the financial sector could fall further.
A rise in February housing data, instead of an expected decline, also helped push Wall Street higher for the second consecutive session.
The Dow Jones rose 187.32 points to 12,548.64 overnight, after rising more than 260 points on Thursday, the last day of trading before the Easter holiday break.
'We would expect to have a good day on our markets today after Wall Street had two solid rallies,' said Juliette Saly, a market analyst at CommSec.
'Our financial stocks should do well after JPMorgan Chase revised its bailout offer for Bear Stearns. But we may see our gains capped a little bit on lower commodity prices,' she said.
Oil and gold both fell overnight, while base metals were lower on the London Metal Exchange (LME) on Thursday, the last day of trading before the Easter break. London will resume trading today.
On Thursday, the S&P/ASX 200 closed down 161.6 points or 3.1 percent at the day's low of 5,127.5, off a high of 5,242.5. The All Ordinaries lost 166.8 points or 3.1 percent to 5,182.4.
The S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.5 percent last week, its third straight weekly decline.
The Australian market was closed on Friday and Monday for the Easter holidays.
Overnight, light sweet crude oil for May delivery fell 98 US cents to settle at 100.86 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as a stronger dollar diminished the appeal of energy and other commodities futures.
The most-active April Comex gold contract fell by 1.30 dollars an ounce to 918.70 dollars.
(1 US dollar = 1.10 Australian dollars)
yuinmunn.szetoh@thomson.com - ys/ng COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2008. 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.