The Australian market looks set to open largely flat later this morning, despite a positive session on Wall Street overnight that was driven mainly by technology stocks.

The September SPI futures contract is up four points, at 5626.

In New York, the Nasdaq jumped 1.3% to a record high after an earnings report from Netflix showed strong global growth for the streaming service.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4%.

In local news on Friday, energy producer Santos releases its second quarter production report.

Key Numbers:

– SPI futures up 6pts at 5628

– AUD at 73.99 US cents, 91.87 Japanese yen, 68.05 Euro cents and 47.40 British pence

– On Wall St, S&P 500 +0.8%, Dow +0.4%, Nasdaq +1.3%

– In Europe, Stoxx 50 +1.5%, FTSE +0.6%, CAC +1.5%, DAX +1.5%

– Spot gold down $US4.22 or 0.4% to $US1145.23 an ounce

– Brent crude up 46 US cents, or 0.8%, to $US57.51 a barrel

– Iron ore adds 0.2% to $US50.66 per ton

What’s on today:

US CPI, housing starts. Earnings: General Electric.

Stocks in focus:

UBS maintains its “buy” recommendation on Primary Health Care with a price target cut to $6 a share from $6.10 previously. On July 15, after the market closed, Primary Health Care lowered its earnings guidance for 2014-15 and admitted it will deliver a 5 per cent fall in underlying net profit.

Citi has Mount Gibson Iron as “neutral” rated with an unchanged 23¢ a share target.

Goldman Sachs cut its target price for Perpetual Ltd to $48 from $51 and has a “neutral” call on fund manager.

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