New Zealand/Australia Morning Call-Global markets

-----------------------(07:15 / 1815
GMT)-----------------------
Stock Markets
S&P/ASX 200 5,257.90 +123.70 NZSX 50 3,544.83
+24.37
DJIA 12,172.61 +15.80 Nikkei 12,861.13
+202.85
NASDAQ 2,262.15 +6.39 FTSE 5,776.40
+86.00
S&P 500 1,317.15 -3.50 Hang Seng 22,995.35
+427.41
SPI 200 Fut 5,218.00 -9.00 CRB Index 416.67
+1.22
Bonds
AU 10 YR Bond 93.955 +0.025 US 10 YR Bond 3.492
-0.107
NZ 10 YR Bond 6.750 +0.005 US 30 YR Bond 4.420
-0.092
Currencies (Prev at 7pm NZST)
AUD US$ 0.9334 0.9302 NZD US$ 0.8071
0.8021
EUR US$ 1.5523 1.5354 Yen US$ 101.93
103.07
Commodities
Gold (Lon) 975.50 Silver (Lon) 19.700

Gold (NY) 973.00 Light Crude 109.65
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Overnight market action. An updated report will be sent after
the close of New York markets.

EQUITIES

NEW YORK - The S&P 500 stock index briefly dipped into
negative territory on Wednesday, weighed down by a drop in
shares of telecommunications companies and a pullback in
financial stocks.

Both the Dow and the Nasdaq pared gains.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose 33.46 points,
or 0.28 percent, to 12,190.27. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index
.SPX shed 1.42 points, or 0.11 percent, to 1,319.23. The
Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC gained 12.04 points, or 0.53
percent, to 2,267.80.

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LONDON - The FTSE 100 index .FTSE of Britain's top shares
ended up sharply on Wednesday, powered by mining stocks that
were led higher by takeover target Kazakhmys (KAZ.L: Quote, Profile, Research) which
jumped 20 percent.

The blue-chip index closed 86 points or 1.5 percent higher
at 5,776.4, shrugging off British Finance Minister Alistair
Darling's first budget.

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TOKYO - Japanese stocks rose 1.6 percent on Wednesday after
the Federal Reserve moved to provide more liquidity to credit
markets, but shares fell from early highs on concern the Fed
move would not solve all credit woes.

Banks surged, with No. 3 bank Sumitomo Mitsui Financial
Group (8316.T: Quote, Profile, Research) up 6.4 percent, finishing at its highest level
since March 3. Other lenders made similar gains.

In a coordinated effort with other central banks, the Fed
said it would offer up to $200 billion of highly liquid U.S.
Treasuries, effectively allowing banks to exchange unwanted
mortgage notes for easy-to-sell government securities.
[ID:nN11555562]

Both the benchmark Nikkei .N225 and the broader TOPIX
jumped more than 3 percent soon after the open, but the
rebound later ran out of steam on resurgent doubts about
whether the Fed action would really resolve the credit crisis.

The main Japanese benchmarks each gained 1.6 percent, with
the Nikkei rising 202.85 points to 12,861.13 and the TOPIX
climbing 19.98 points to 1,255.13.

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FOREIGN EXCHANGE

NEW YORK - The dollar tumbled to a record low against the
euro on Wednesday as doubts grew about the long-term impact of
recent Federal Reserve efforts to pump money into cash-starved
credit markets.

The greenback rallied a day ago after the Fed said it would
lend primary dealers $200 billion in Treasury securities and
accept a wider array of mortgage debt as collateral to ease
tight credit conditions.

But those gains fizzled out on Wednesday as the euro rose
above $1.55 <EUR=> for the first time in its nine-year history
as investors wondered whether the Fed's plan would do enough to
revive credit markets and boost a struggling U.S. economy.

The euro is up 6.2 percent against the dollar so far this
year and 18 percent over the past 12 months.

Sterling hit a three-month peak at $2.0242 <GBP=> before
easing to $2.0211, up 0.7 percent from late Tuesday. The dollar
also surrendered most of the prior day's gains against the yen,
falling 1 percent to 102.39 yen <JPY=>, not far from an
eight-year low around 101.40 yen. Against the Swiss franc, it
was 1.2 percent weaker at 1.0210 francs <CHF=>.

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TREASURIES

NEW YORK - U.S. Treasury debt prices rose on Wednesday on
growing doubts the Federal Reserve's latest move to ease credit
tightness goes far enough to jump-start a stalled global
financial system.

In the absence of major economic data and Fed speeches,
bargain hunting emerged, as aggressive traders decided the Fed
will still make bold interest rate cuts to forestall an
increasingly fragile economy, which some economists consider is
already in a recession, analysts said.

The price on two-year Treasury notes <US2YT=RR> was up 3/32
at 100-19/32. Its yield, which moves inversely with price, was
1.69 percent, down 6 basis points from late Tuesday.

The benchmark 10-year note's price <US10YT=RR> was up 14/32
at 99-19/32 with its yield of 3.55 percent, versus 3.60 percent
late Tuesday.

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COMMODITIES

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GOLD

NEW YORK - Gold prices rose more than 1 percent on
Wednesday as a record low dollar and soaring oil prices
triggered bullion buying, analysts said.

Gold <XAU=> was at $979.75/980.45 an ounce by 1647 GMT
after rising as high as $981.90. Gold closed at $971.00/971.80
in New York late on Tuesday, when it fell on a dollar rally
after central banks announced plans to boost liquidity.

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BASE METALS

LONDON - Copper was buoyed on Wednesday by tight
fundamentals and falling stocks, while tin touched a record
high, underpinned by supply problems in Indonesia and Congo.

Copper MCU3, widely used in the power and construction
industries, closed at $8,400 a tonne per tonne, up $125.

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OIL

NEW YORK - U.S. crude oil futures shifted higher to hit a
new high midday on Wednesday, buoyed by a weaker dollar which
tends to encourage buying to hedge against an economic
slowdown.

The recovery offset an earlier slide sparked by fresh
government data that showed crude and gasoline inventories
stocks rose last week by a wider margin than had been forecast.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange at 12:25 p.m. EDT (1625
GMT), April crude CLJ8 was up 87 cents, or 0.8 percent, at
$108.62 barrel, trading from $107.09 to $109.85, which toppled
the previous record of $109.72 set on Tuesday.

In London, April Brent crude LCOJ8 was up 99 cents, or
0.94 percent, at $106.24 a barrel, trading $104 to $106.39, a
record high.

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