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Category: Stockmarket / Markets / Currency / Futures

US shares ease despite further oil gains

Friday, 27 May 2016 06:33:39 | Rebecca Hyam

Traders might be scratching their heads to try and guess the next market move. (Brendan McDermid, file photo: Reuters)

Wall Street's brief run of solid gains has come to an end, despite stronger oil prices providing a boost to energy stocks.

In the overnight session, oil prices rose above $US50 a barrel for the first time this year.

In economic news, durable goods orders surged by 3.4 per cent in April, driven by aircraft, cars and electronics.

However, business spending plans continued to disappoint, with soft demand for machinery leading to a third straight month of weakness in April.

Elsewhere, contracts to purchase previously-owned homes leapt to a 10-year high.

The National Association of Realtors reported its pending home sales index jumped by 5.1 per cent in April to its highest level since February 2006.

Pending home contracts become sales after a few months, so April's surge suggests further gains in home re-sales.

Wholesaler Costco jumped 5.3 per cent, after it reported its net income for the quarter ending on the May 8 had increased by 5.6 per cent to $US545 million.

Those earnings beat analysts' expectations.

By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had fallen 0.1 per cent to 17,828.

The S&P 500 Index closed steady at 2,090 and the Nasdaq bucked the downward trend, adding 0.1 per cent to 4,901.

Stocks in Europe were mixed - London's trading session ended on a subdued note, with the FTSE 100 Index rising just 2.8 points to 6,265.

The Australian share market was set to open modestly higher and, at 6:45am (AEST), the ASX SPI 200 was up 0.1 per cent to 5,397.

At the same time, the Australian dollar was buying 72.18 US cents, having risen overnight.

On the cross-rates, it was worth 64.50 euro cents, 49.23 British pence, 79.22 Japanese yen and $NZ1.07.

West Texas crude oil closed at $US48.95 a barrel, the price of a barrel of Tapis eased to $US52.01 and spot gold was slightly lower at $US1,219.56 an ounce.

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