MARKET COMMENT: S&P/ASX 200 Faces Drag from FOMC Minutes

2259 GMT [Dow Jones] Australia's S&P/ASX 200 faces a drag from bearish FOMC minutes which pushed the S&P 500 down 1.2%, its biggest fall in 3 months. IG strategist Evan Lucas tips a 0.6% fall to 5069, with BHP (BHP.AU) expected to do most of the damage after its ADRs fell to A$37.59, down 2.9% vs Wednesday's domestic close. Weaker commodity prices could also be a negative factor for the Australian market, with LME copper down 1.1% and Nymex crude falling 2.3% overnight, although spot iron ore rose 0.6% to US$158.90. The expiry of February S&P/ASX 200 index options could cause additional volatility, and potentially some resilience in the market at the open, given its recent bullish trend. However, after the October expiry debacle, traders say a lot of options positions will have already been rolled to the next contract month. That might partly explain Wednesday's strength in the market. February equity options are also expiring at the close of trading. The market will otherwise be focused on results from the likes of AMP (AMP.AU), Origin (ORG.AU), IAG (IAG.AU), Iluka (ILU.AU), Qantas (QAN.AU), Brambles (BXB.AU) and Goodman Group (GMG.AU). The S&P/ASX 200 closed up 0.3% at 5098.7 Wednesday. ([e-mail])

 
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