The Australian market is poised to open higher later this morning, after global markets rallied on Friday night.

U.S. stocks posted small gains but they were enough to lift them into record territory.

The S&P 500 and Russell 2,000 closed at record levels, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished above 18,000 for the first time this year.

The March SPI futures contract is up 34 points at 5856.

The rise comes amid hope for Greece’s bailout plan and a Ukraine ceasefire as well as strong economic data out of Germany.

Key numbers:

• SPI futures up 29pts at 5851 on Saturday morning
• AUD at 77.74 US cents, 92.09 Japanese yen, 68.13 Euro cents and 50.40 British pence
• On Wall St, S&P +0.4% to record high, Nasdaq +0.8% and Dow +0.3%
• In Europe, Stoxx 50 +0.9%, FTSE +0.7%, CAC 0.7%, DAX 0.4%
• Spot gold up $US7.78 or 0.6% to $US1229.76 an ounce
• Brent oil up $US2.39 or 4.4% to $US57.05 per barrel
• Iron ore adds 1.5% to $US63.19 per metric tonne

What’s on today:

Australia new motor vehicle sales for January.

Stocks to watch:

Earnings from Aurizon, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, Charter Hall Retail REIT, UGL, G8 Education.

Santos is an ‘underperform’ at RBC Capital Markets with a price target of $9 a share.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch resumed coverage of Bradken with an ‘underperform’ and a price target of $2.45 a share.

The post Morning market update – 16 February, 2015 appeared first on Market Pulse.