The Australian market looks set to open flat later this morning, despite falls in metals and oil prices overnight.

The March SPI futures contract is holding around 5265.

Copper and oil futures closed lower, weighed down by increases in inventories.

US markets were closed on Monday for the Martin Luther King public holiday.

In company news today, Rio Tinto releases its fourth quarter operations review and in economic news the ANZ-Roy Morgan weekly consumer confidence survey is due out.

Key numbers:

• SPI futures holding steady this morning
• AUD at 82.05 US cents, 96.59 Japanese yen, 70.71 Euro cents and 54.30 British pence
• Wall St was closed for a holiday.
• In Europe, Stoxx 50 +0.6%, FTSE +0.5%, CAC +0.4%, DAX +0.7%
• Spot gold down $US6.45 or 0.5% to $US1274.00 an ounce
• Iron ore slips 0.8% to $US68.09 per metric tonne
• Brent oil down $US1.30 or 2.6% to $US48.87 per barrel

What’s on today

ANZ Roy Morgan index, The IMF updates its World Economic Outlook, China fourth-quarter GDP, China fourth-quarter industrial production, US President Barack Obama gives State of the Union address, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang attends Davos World Economic Forum, US: Morgan Stanley, IBM, Netflix quarterly profit.

Stocks to watch

ANZ Banking Group is preparing to kick off a sale process for its vehicle and equipment finance business Esanda, which has $16.2 billion in loans.

Macquarie Group looks likely to post its second-highest profit ever this year, benefiting from the lower dollar.

Deutsche Bank has a “hold” rating on Computershare and a $12.75 target price.

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