ASX eyes soft start to March Australian shares are expected to ease after a flat performance on Wall Street as dealers brushed aside lower-than-expected growth in the United States to focus on upbeat jobs data in the world's biggest economy. On the ASX24, the SPI futures index was 11 points lower to 5074. The Aussie dollar was weaker. It was recently buying $US1.0215, down from a local close yesterday of US1.0275. It was also buying 94.92 yen, 78.3 euro cents and 67.45 pence. SPI futures are 11 points lower to 5074 The $A is lower to $US1.0215 In recent trade in New York, the S&P500 was 0.22% higher at 1519.36 In Europe, the FTSE100 rose 0.55% to 6360.81 China iron ore lost 20 US cents to $US151.70 a metric tonne Gold fell $US17.60 to $US1578.10 an ounce WTI crude oil fell 23 US cents to $US92.53 a barrel Reuters/Jefferies CRB index was flat at 292.95 AiG performance of manufacturing index for February - 9.30am RPData-Rismark house price index for February - 10am RBA commodity price index for February - 4.30pm BHP Billiton ex-dividend date Santos ex-dividend date Asciano ex-dividend date BlueScope, Super Retail Group, Suncorp-Metway and Worley Parson record dates Woolworths cut to neutral at JPMorgan Bank of Queensland cut to underweight at JPMorgan Bendigo & Adelaide Bank cut to underweight at JPMorgan CommBank raised to neutral at JPMorgan National Australia Bank raised to overweight at JPMorgan With about two hours left in trade, US stocks were up modestly on low volume after strong economic data, but the proximity of record highs for the Dow and the S&P 500 gave investors a reason to keep gains in check. S&P 500 added 0.53% to 1,524.02 Dow Jones Indus Avg added 0.44% to 14,136.69 Nasdaq Composite added 0.55% to 3,179.67 European equity markets rose as dealers brushed aside lower-than-expected growth in the United States to focus on upbeat jobs data in the world's biggest economy, dealers say. London's FTSE 100 added 0.55% to 6,360.81 Frankfurt's DAX 30 added 0.86% to 7,741.7 Paris CAC 40 added 0.85% to 3723.00 Milan's FTSE Mib index added 0.60% to 15,921 Asian markets rose after the Dow on Wall Street hit a more than five-year high, while the head of the European Central Bank soothed concerns over the eurozone. Japan's Nikkei 225 added 2.71% to 11,559.36 Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 1.96% to 23,020.27 China's Shanghai composite added 2.26% to 2365.59