Spain aid likely to boost local market

The Australian sharemarket is closed today for the Queen's Birthday public holiday, but it looks like it should be in for a cracker of a day, when it reopens tomorrow, if it mimics the moves of Asian markets.

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Japan and Hong Kong markets are up around 2 per cent, following moves to shore up Spain's banks at the weekend.

Euro finance ministers agreed to lend around $125billion relieving investors that had feared a collapse of Europe's fourth biggest economy.

The news sent investors back to risk assets like the Australian dollar, which temporarily breached parity with the greenback once again.

Some analysts also note that short covering may also have been behind some of the upswing.

Either way, the main drag on global markets recently has been the escalation of the European debt crisis, in particular Greece and Spain.

The uncertainty surrounding whether or not Spain would need a rescue saw the Australian sharemarket slump more than 10 per cent since its May peak.

But with that uncertainty now cleared up, some confidence should return to the market.

Note I said, some.

Investors don't like uncertainty. They often sell their holdings in the face of uncertainty, because they purely don't like to take the risk when they can't judge the outcome.

And there's more uncertainty in the air stemming from the upcoming Greek elections.

They'll be held on June the 17th with a chance the anti-austerity party may be voted in, prompting a potential exit of the country from the Euro.

An exit, would be unprecedented.

Then there's the chance Italy may be the next nation to need financial help. Pressue is building on Mario Monti's government to shore up its finances.

Investors should know more about what next for Europe when a G20 meeting on June the 18th and 19th is held. It is expected to come up with some sort of plan for the continent.

There's also the chance Japan's central bank will join co-ordinated efforts by global central banks to ease monetary policy.

The US will also be in the spotlight with anticipation building that Federal Reserve Governor, Ben Bernanke may announce some form of quantitative easing, pumping more cash into the US economy, to try and stimulate growth.

It's going to be a very busy couple of weeks, and I haven't even touched on any of the domestic business events.


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By Ricardo Goncalves
Source: SBS

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Spain aid likely to boost local market | SBS News