Local shares are poised to open lower, with most commodities sliding after OPEC opted to hold firm on the group's current production level.
What you need2know:
• SPI futures down 17 pts at 5397
• AUD at 85.46 US cents, 100.71 Japanese yen, 68.56 Euro cents and 54.34 British pence
• Wall St closed for Thanksgiving holiday
• In Europe, Euro Stoxx 50 +0.6%, FTSE -0.1%, CAC +0.2%, DAX +0.6%
• Spot gold down 0.6% to $US1190.42 an ounce
• Brent oil down 6.7% to $US72.58 per barrel
• US crude down 6.3% to $US69.05 per barrel
• Iron ore jumps 2.2% to $US69.98 per metric tonne
What’s on today
Australia Reserve Bank to release financial aggregates for October, private sector credit October; New Zealand building consents, November ANZ business confidence, October private sector credit; China leading index; Japan jobless rate, retail trade, CPI, household spending, industrial production; Euro zone unemployment, CPI; US early close for Thanksgiving.
Stocks to watch
Rio Tinto investor day
AGMs: Lynas Corp, Primary Health Care, Metgasco, Regis Resources, Australian Dairy Farms
Gas giant BG Group should expect three bids for its $US4 billion-plus Queensland gas pipeline, after heavyweight infrastructure buyer Cheung Kong was a late withdrawal from the auction, the Australian Financial Review reports.
Commonwealth Bank cut Domino’s Pizza to “underweight” from “neutral” and lowered its price target to $23.30 a share from $25.60.
Currencies
Currencies of oil-producing nations tumbled, with the Norwegian krone reaching a five-year low against the dollar, after OPEC members decided to keep its output target unchanged.
The currency of Western Europe’s largest crude producer weakened at least 0.6 per cent versus all of its 16 major peers as Brent declined to the lowest price since 2010. The Canadian dollar fell for the first time in three days and the Russian ruble tumbled.
Warning that Europe risks a "stagnation trap", leading French and German economists proposed reforms and investments to revive growth in the euro zone's two biggest economies, but Berlin swiftly dismissed a key proposal to boost its public investment.
Commodities
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries left its oil-output target unchanged, resisting calls from Venezuela for action to halt this year’s plunge in prices.
Iron ore rose to $US69.98, according to a priced index compiled by Metal Bulletin.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange, untraded at the close, was bid at $US6555 a tonne, down 0.2 per cent, having earlier touched its lowest since November 5 at $US6550 a tonne. "The big scare is that copper may close the month below $US6600. If it closes below that level, then there's higher risk of a crash to $US6000," said Gianclaudio Torlizzi, partner at consultancy T-Commodity in Milan.
United States
Wall Street was closed for the Thanksgiving holiday. The markets will close early, at 1pm, on Friday in New York.
Europe
European stocks extended a two-month high, as the DAX Index rose for an 11th day after Germany’s jobless rate reached a record low. Energy stocks fell the most in eight weeks after OPEC decided to keep its oil-output target.
More people were unemployed in France in October than ever before, data showed on Thursday, highlighting continued weak activity in the euro zone’s second-largest economy. The Labour Ministry said the jobless total in mainland France rose by 28,400 to 3,460,900.
Preliminary figures from Germany's Statistics Office on Thursday showed inflation harmonised to compare with other European countries dropped to 0.5 per cent from 0.7 per cent in October, undershooting a consensus forecast of 0.6 per cent. On the month, the cost of living was unchanged using this measure.
What happened yesterday
The Australian sharemarket finished flat on Thursday, as gains from Woolworths and the banks offset weak performances from the energy and mining sectors.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 added just 4.7 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 5400.9. The broader All Ordinaries rose 1.1 points to 5381.4.
Among the sectors, energy was the biggest drag on the market, falling 2.8 per cent. Health was the biggest winner, adding 1.9 per cent.
