A man looks the board of the Australian Securities Exchange ASX in central Sydney August 7, 2013.
A man looks the board of the Australian Securities Exchange in central Sydney August 7, 2013. Reuters/Daniel Munoz
  • In US economic data, new home sales fell by 6.8% in June to a 482,000 annual rate, lower than the consensus forecast of 546,000. The "flash' manufacturing gauge rose from 53.6 to 53.8 in July.
  • In China, the "flash" manufacturing gauge fell from 49.4 to a 15-month low of 48.2 in July.
  • European shares fell on Friday. Both the French and German "flash" manufacturing indexes eased in July while company earnings results disappointed investors. The FTSEurofirst 300 fell by 0.9% with the German Dax down by 1.4% while the UK FTSE was lower by 1.1%. In London trade mining shares slumped with BHP Billiton down by 3.8% and Rio Tinto lower by 3.5%.
  • US sharemarkets fell on Friday. Investors reacted to weaker economic data in Europe and China. And investors have been disappointed so far by revenue estimates of the US companies reporting earnings results. The Dow Jones fell by 163 points or 0.9% with the S&P 500 down by 1.1% while the Nasdaq lost almost 58 points or 1.1%. Over the week the Dow Jones fell by 2.9% with the S&P 500 index down 2.2% with the Nasdaq down by 2.3%.
  • US treasury prices rose modestly on Friday (yields lower) as equity markets fell. US 2 year yields fell by 3 points to 0.68% while US 10 year yields were down by 1 point to 2.26%. Over the week, US 2 year yields fell by 3 points with US 10 year yields down by 10 points.
  • Major currencies were mixed against the greenback in European and US trade. The euro fell from highs near US$1.0995 to lows near US$1.0925 but ended US trade back around the highs at US$1.0990. The Aussie dollar fell from highs near US73.05c to lows around US72.60c and ended US trade near US72.75c. And the Japanese yen lifted from near 124.10 yen per US dollar to JPY123.60, ending US trade around JPY123.80.
  • World oil prices fell on Friday to 5-month lows in response to soft Chinese economic data and figures showing a lift in oil drilling activity in the US. Oil services company Baker Hughes reported that the number of oil drilling rigs operating in the US rose by 21 in the latest week. Brent crude fell by US65 cents or 1.2% to US$54.62 a barrel while US Nymex crude fell by US31 cents or 0.6% to US$48.14 a barrel. Over the week Brent fell by 4.3% with Nymex down 5.4%.
  • Base metal prices fell up to 1.6% on the London Metal Exchange on Friday. Zinc fell the most but tin actually rose by 3.2% with aluminium up 0.6%. Over the week metal prices fell between 1.8-6.8% with nickel faring the best and lead down the most. The Comex gold futures price fell by US$8.60 or 0.8% to US$1,085.50 per ounce. Iron ore rose by US10c or 0.2% to US$50.70 a tonne on Thursday. Over the week iron ore rose by US70c a tonne.

Ahead: In Australia, no major economic data is scheduled. In the US, durable goods orders data is released.

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