$A, gold, shares up, buyers confident
Monday, January 19, 1998
By TOM ALLARD and wires
Offshore trading activity over the weekend has local financial markets primed for a strong open today after the price of gold surged, Wall Street rallied and the Australian dollar leapt more than a cent in US trading.
But Asian developments will loom large over Australian financial markets, as they have for months. Investors will be watching Indonesia closely, as it is expected to announce reforms of its beleaguered banking system this week.
Optimism about Asia was behind a 2 per cent leap in the gold price after the close of domestic trading on Friday. The spot price for gold closed in Hong Kong on Saturday at a high for the year of $US290.85, up from the previous finish of $US288.05.
Gold futures contracts rose further, indicating traders see higher prices ahead. Gold for delivery in February jumped as much as $US10.20 to $US296.60 in New York before settling at $US291.10, an increase of 1.5 per cent or $US4.70 an ounce.
Other commodity prices, especially base metals, rose along with gold, laying the groundwork for a good rise in resource stocks today.
The Australian dollar was swept along in the optimism. It rose sharply from its local Friday close of US65.72c to end in New York at US66.2c, after hitting US66.80c. |
