Australian Stock Market Report - Morning May 8, 2015

Molten nickel is poured at Nadezhda Metallurgical Plant of the Norilsk Nickel company in the Arctic city of Norilsk January 23, 2015. Russia's Norilsk Nickel , the world's largest nickel and palladium miner, has started pilot operations at its Arctic-based Talnakh concentrator plant after the first stage of an upgrade to improve productivity. Picture taken January 23, 2015. REUTERS/Polina Devitt

In US economic data, consumer credit rose by $20.52 billion in March (well above consensus). Revolving credit was up $4.36 billion in March following two months of declines. US jobless claims rose by 3,000 to 265,000 last week but remained near recent 15-year lows.

European shares were mixed on Thursday as the recent selloff in government bonds eased and helped to offset some of the recent selling. The FTSEurofirst 300 was flat with the German Dax up by 0.5% while the UK FTSE fell 0. 7% on the day of the national election. A weak UK government could potentially propel the UK towards a vote on EU membership and also result in Scottish secession. Mining shares fell in London trade with BHP Billiton down by 3.5% while Rio Tinto lost 1.3%.

US sharemarkets rallied in late trade on Thursday helped by a jump in tech stocks and a fall in global bond yields. Alibaba's shares jumped 7.9% as the Chinese e-commerce giant reported a better-than-expected rise in quarterly revenue. Yahoo, which holds a substantial stake in Alibaba lifted by 5.5%. The Dow Jones rose by 82 points or 0.5% with the S&P 500 index up by 0.4% and the Nasdaq rose almost 26 points or 0.5%.

US treasury prices rose on Thursday (yields lower) ending an eight day slide. A pullback in the yields of European bonds and Germans bunds boosted the demand for US treasuries. US 2 year yields fell by 1 point to 0.635% while US 10 year yields fell by 7 points to 2.178%.

Major currencies were mostly weaker against the greenback over the European and US sessions on Thursday. The Euro fell from highs near US$1.1390 to lows near US$1.1240 and ended US trade around US$1.1265. The Aussie dollar fell from highs near US80.00c to lows near US78.90c before ending US trade near US79.00c. And the Japanese yen eased from 119.05 yen per US dollar to JPY119.85 and was around JPY119.75 at the US close.

World oil prices fell on Thursday as a lift in the US dollar erased gains from the past two sessions. Oil prices were heading for their first weekly losses in five week. Brent crude fell by US$2.23 or 3.3% to US$65.54 a barrel while US Nymex crude fell by US$1.99 or 3.3% to US$58.94 a barrel.

Base metal prices were mixed on Thursday with aluminium leading the declines, losing 2.3% after a 3% loss in the prior session. Nickel was the best performer up 1.2%. The Comex gold futures price fell by US$8.10 an ounce or 0.7% to US$1,182.20 per ounce. Iron ore fell by US10c on Thursday or 0.2% to US$60.00 a tonne.

Ahead: In Australia, the Reserve Bank releases the Statement of Monetary Policy. In the US, non-farm payrolls are released. In China trade data is released.

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