Australia

Australian shares are positioned to open higher as Wall Street rose overnight.

ASX futures were higher by 9 points of 0.1% after the monthly inflation reading released on Wednesday showed inflaiton easing. 

Monthly inflation numbers will be released in the US tomorrow.

In commodity markets, Brent crude oil dropped 1.2% to $US75.89 a barrel, Gold dropped slightly to $US2,023 and Iron ore closed at $US140.52 a tonne.

In local bond markets, yields on Australian 2 Year government bonds rose to 3.876% and the 10 Year yield was mostly flat at 4.131%. Overseas, the US Treasury notes were mostly positive, with the yield on 2 Year rose to 4.375% and the 10 Year yield rising to 4.04%

The Australian dollar was down slightly at .6696 US cents. The Wall Street Journal Dollar Index, which tracks the US dollar against 16 other currencies was up at 102.35.

Asia

Chinese shares continued to fall with Shanghai and Shenzen falling half a percent. Hong Kong shares also fell half a percent but the Nikkei jumped over 2 percent to close at the highest level since March 1990. 

Europe

European shares were mixed with shares in the UK and France dropped while shares in Germany rose slightly. 

North America

US stocks rose with the Nasdaq Composite gaining 0.68%, the S&P 500 up 0.42% and the Dow Jones Industrial average up 0.38%. Once again large tech shares led the charge.