An office worker talks on his phone as he looks the stock board at the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) building in central Sydney June 15, 2012.
An office worker talks on his phone as he looks the stock board at the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) building in central Sydney June 15, 2012. Reuters/Daniel Munoz
  • In US economic data, existing home sales rose by 5.1% in May to a 5½ year high of a 5.35 million, above forecasts centred on a result near a 5.25m annual rate.
  • European leaders and creditors have welcomed new proposals from the Greek Government that include higher taxes and moves to curtail early retirement.
  • European shares posted solid gains on Monday as investors perceived that a deal between Greece and its creditors was drawing closer. The FTSEurofirst 300 rose by 2.4% with the German Dax soaring by 3.8%, Greek ATG index up 9% and the UK FTSE lifting by 1.7%. And mining shares were higher in London trade with BHP Billiton up 1.6% and Rio Tinto rose by 1.4%.
  • US sharemarkets recorded solid gains on Monday. Investors were comforted by positive news on Greek debt talks and encouraged by solid home sales data. Investors were also focussed on merger and acquisition news in the healthcare sector. The Dow Jones rose by 104 points or 0.6% with the S&P 500 index up by 0.6% while the Nasdaq lifted 37 points or 0.7%.
  • US treasury prices fell on Monday (yields higher) as investors unwound safe-haven flows on expectations that Greece will secure a deal with creditors. US 2 year yields rose by 3 points to 0.66% while US 10 year yields were up by 12 points to near 2.38%.
  • Major currencies were lower against the US dollar in US and European trade. The euro held between US$1.1310 and US$1.1405 and ended US trade around US$1.1335. The Aussie dollar eased from highs near US77.95c to lows around US77.20c before ending US trade near the lows. And the Japanese yen weakened from near 122.70 yen per US dollar to JPY123.42 before ending US trade around JPY123.35.
  • World oil prices posted modest gains on Monday. Investors mulled Greek debt negotiations, US economic data, a stronger greenback and news of a stockpile drawdown at the Oklahoma delivery point for US crude oil futures. Brent crude rose by US32 cents or 0.5% to US$63.34 a barrel while US Nymex crude edged up by US7c to US$59.68 a barrel.
  • Base metal prices were lower by up to 2.4% on the London Metal Exchange on Monday. Nickel was down the most but aluminium bucked the trend, up by 0.9%. The Comex gold futures price fell by US$17.80 or 1.5% to US$1,184.10 per ounce. Iron ore was down US10c on Monday to US$60.60 a tonne.
Ahead: In Australia, the weekly consumer confidence index is released with the Commonwealth Bank Business Sales index. The
NSW State Budget is handed down. In the US, data on durable goods orders is issued with the "flash" purchasing managers index
(PMI), new home sales, home prices and Richmond Fed index. In China, the "flash" PMI is released.
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