Plum Financial Services Limited - Weekly market update feed http://www.plum.com.au Welcome to the Plum Financial Services weekly market commentary en-us Plum Financial Services Limited 30 January 2012 15:11:59 GMT Plum http://www.plum.com.au/microsite/marketwatch/index.asp http://www.plum.com.au/files/1/News.gif Investor market commentary pfs@plum.com.au 16 Weekly market update - 30 January 2012 http://www.plum.com.au/microsite/marketwatch/index.asp#commentary /microsite/marketwatch/ This week's market commentary is now available. Click here to read

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]]> Weekly highlights

]]> Local markets
The Australian sharemarket as measured by the S&P ASX 200 Index, gained 48 points (+1.1 per cent) over the week, closing at 4,288 on Friday.]]> Global markets
Equity markets
US stocks had a mixed week with the S&P 500 Index and the Nasdaq Index rose for a fourth consecutive week on news the Federal Reserve planned to keep interest rates low until 2014. The Dow Jones Index, however, recorded its first weekly loss of 2012 as the country’s growth figures fell short of market expectations. Markets in Europe closed weaker on the back of poor results from the regions corporations and banks.

Commodities
Gold had its strongest week since October last year rising to $US1735.40 an ounce (+6.4 per cent). Other commodities also performed well with copper (+6.6 per cent), nickel (+10.7 per cent), and zinc (+9.5 per cent) all up. Soft commodities such as wheat (+6.0 per cent), sugar (+1.6 per cent) and cotton (+0.1 per cent) were also stronger.

Currencies
The Australian dollar (AUD) reached a six month high against the US dollar (USD) trading as high as $US1.0686 on Friday. The AUD also reached a 27-year high against the British pound trading at 68.08 pence. The AUD was trading at $US1.0648 in early trade on Monday.]]> Market movements
IndexClose last Friday (27 January 2012)Weekly movement% Year
ASX 200
4,288
+1.1%
-10.2%
Dow Jones
12,660
-0.5%
+7.1%
S&P 500
1,316
+0.1%
+3.1%
Nasdaq
2,817
+1.1%
+4.8%
FTSE
5,733
+0.1%
-2.5%
DAX
6,512
+1.7%
-8.3%
CAC 40
3,319
-0.1%
-17.1%
Nikkei
8,841
+0.9%
-14.7%
Shanghai
2,319
0.0%
-14.6%
Hang Seng
20,502
+1.9%
-13.2%
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