Markets

Australia shares seen steady on weaker US dollar

MELBOURNE : Australian stocks look set to open flat on Monday, with the weaker US dollar shoring up the resources

Published May 29, 2011 Updated May 29, 2011 10:46pm

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By Abdul Ahad

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Volumes are likely to remain thin amid long weekends in the United States and Britain.

* Stock index futures rose 0.1 percent to 4,695.0, an 11-point premium to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index . The benchmark rose 0.5 percent on Friday.

* New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index inched up 6.2 points, or 0.2 percent, to 3,534.2 in early trade.

* The Dow and S&P 500 closed out their fourth week of losses with a small gain on Friday, but only with the help of a weaker dollar boosting metals prices and basic materials stocks.

* Copper surged to a three-week high on Friday, bucking negative demand implications from another batch of weak US data, as prices pushed higher in front of a long holiday weekend with the help of a weaker dollar and steady equities.

* Barrick Gold's bid for Equinox Minerals was cleared by Zambia on Friday on condition the government would keep its 2.2 percent stake in Equinox, whose key asset, the Lumwana mine is in Zambia.

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