Stocks rise on news of bin Laden's death
Investors weigh up whether Osama's death decreases the liklihood for a terrorist attack and whether that could reduce the expense of security measures designed to deter those attacks.
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EARNINGS
Reports on the death of Osama bin Laden have sent Asian stocks higher while US equity index futures extended gains and oil prices dipped.
The Australian share market jumped about 18 points after the news filtered through that Al Queda's elusive leader Osama bin Laden was dead and his body has been recovered by US authorities
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 18 points shortly after the news broke, rising to 4798.3 from 4780 about eight minutes earlier while the All Ordinaries was also up at 4869.2, according to Associated Press.
But both indexes were still down about 24 points on the day, after the Australian dollar this morning briefly went through the $US1.10 mark.
US stock index futures SPc1 rose 0.9% and MSCI's gauge of Asian stocks excluding Japan rose 0.2% shortly after the news broke.
US crude CLc1 slid more than 1 percent to $112.51 a barrel.
The NZX-50 index remained down 17 points (0.5%) at 3502.
Long term changes in stock prices as a result are likely to depend on whether investors view Osama’s death as decreasing the liklihood for a terrorist attack and whether that could reduce the expense of security measures designed to deter those attacks.
Decreasing military spending could result in an associated fall in taxes, which could have a stimulative effect on the US economy.
NBR staff
Mon, 02 May 2011
Mon, 02 May 2011
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Stocks rise on news of bin Laden's death
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