What you need2know:

• SPI futures up 8 points to 5540

• AUD at 94.20 US cents, 95.88 Japanese yen, 69.94 Euro cents and 55.44 British pence.

• On Wall St, S&P 500 +0.1%, Dow flat, Nasdaq flat

• In Europe, Euro Stoxx 50 +0.8%, FTSE +0.3%, CAC +0.8%, DAX +0.4%

• Spot gold fell 0,9% to $US1292.37 an ounce

• Brent oil down 0.9% to $US107.09 per barrel

• Iron ore slipped 0.7% to $US93.60 per metric tonne

What’s on today

No local economic reports are scheduled.

IMF earlier this morning released a revised global economic growth forecast.

Stocks to watch

Woodside Petroleum chief executive Peter Coleman is drumming up investor support for the contested buyback of part of the Royal Dutch Shell shareholding in a bid to head off a potential shareholder revolt.

CommSec notes that the Australian profit-reporting season has begun. But it will be a slow climb in terms of the number of companies issuing results with the key days being August 13, 19 and 20.

AustralianSuper has emerged as the largest domestic investor in Healthscope’s $2.25 billion float.

Credit Suisse has cut its recommendation on Iluka Resources to “underperform” from “neutral” and has also lowered its target price to $8.50 from $9.00.

Currencies

The greenback traded narrowly mixed against most major currencies as it reached a one-week high against the yen. The US dollar climbed 0.3 per cent versus the yen to 101.82 yen, its strongest in about a week. Its gain was capped after a report showed US new home sales posted the biggest one-month drop in nearly a year in June.

The biggest mover among developed country currencies was the New Zealand dollar. It slumped to a six-week low after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand shifted to a wait-and-see stance. Some traders have questioned the need for more tightening in the face of a strong currency, restrained inflation and falling prices for dairy products, the country's biggest export earner.

The kiwi was on track to fall 1.45 per cent for its biggest one-day drop versus the greenback in more than a year.

Commodities

Brazil's Vale produced record amounts of iron ore in its latest second quarter. Iron ore production rose 12.6 per cent to 79.45 million tonnes from a year earlier, as better weather conditions combined with ramp ups at its two main mine sites in Brazil.

Oil futures prices fell as unseasonably weak demand and plentiful supplies of crude and refined products offset strong Chinese factory data that could presage higher energy demand in the world's No. 2 oil consumer.

Hershey Co, one of the world's best known names in chocolate, expects its first price hike in three years to crimp short term sales, but over the long haul the popularity of chocolate will prevail, the company's chief executive said.

United States

US stocks ended a quiet session on Thursday as earnings painted a mixed picture of the economy, though the S&P 500 set another record closing high.

The latest economic data failed to entice buyers. US claims for initial jobless benefits fell to a seasonally adjusted 284,000, the lowest since mid-February 2006. New home sales declined 8.1 per cent in June, the biggest drop in almost a year.

Amazon.com has posted a larger loss in the second quarter as its rapid pace of investment in new businesses such as digital content and same-day delivery offset revenue growth, sending its shares lower in after-hours trading.

Shares of Facebook hit a record high after a surge in mobile advertising revenue helped the world’s No. 1 social network trounce analysts’ expectations for quarterly profit and revenue.

Europe

European shares rose on Thursday as better-than-expected economic data and some strong corporate results in Spain injected some optimism about the region’s recovery.

Britain’s pay-TV group BSkyB will on Friday unveil its multi-billion euro deal to buy Rupert Murdoch’s assets in Italy and Germany, sealing a plan to create a pan-European giant with almost 20 million customers.

Madrid’s IBEX 35 index also surged to close up 1.89 per cent after official data showed unemployment in Spain fell sharply in the second quarter - slipping beneath 25 per cent.

What happened yesterday

Australian shares closed at a new six-year high, notching up a seven- day winning streak as the big four banks lifted the index and investors reacted to a mixed bag of June quarter company updates.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index and the broader All Ordinaries Index both added 0.2 per cent on Thursday, to 5585.2 points and 5576.8 points respectively.

Wires