MARKET TALK: S&P/ASX 200 Up 2.1% After Wall Street Surge

8th Jul 2010 01:32

0032 GMT [Dow Jones] S&P/ASX 200 2.1% at 4342.5, hits 7-day high of 4349.6, after S&P 500 surged 3.1% on Wall Street overnight. Financials, materials, energy leading broad-based gains, with banks up 2.6%-3.3%, BHP (BHP.AU) up 2.3%, Rio Tinto (RIO.AU) up 2.5%, Santos (STO.AU) up 2.3%. Industrials and consumer discretionary sectors also stronger, with Leighton (LEI.AU) up 2.1%, News Corp. (NWS.AU) -owner of this newswire- up 2.0%. Traders now looking to see if last night's developments, including bullish ICSC U.S. retail chain store sales, improved earnings guidance from State Street and optimism over European bank stress tests, generate significant investor buying, or whether the rally draws selling. "Equity markets are bouncing from oversold territory and I think it will continue," says Macquarie Private Wealth Division Director Martin Lakos. "There's no doubt that equities were discounting every possible worst case outcome. We are now starting to see some of those concerns unwind, in terms of the stress testing of banks in Europe, U.S. earnings and the U.S. economy." Focus turns to domestic June employment data at 0130 GMT. ([email protected]) Contact us in Singapore. 65 64154 140; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 07, 2010 20:32 ET (00:32 GMT)