US slide points to weak start for ASX Join the Markets Live blog from 9.30am Australian shares are set to open sharply lower following falls on Wall Street after oil plunged and worse-than-estimated data spurred concern over US economic growth. On the ASX24, the SPI futures contract was 35 points lower to 4919. The Aussie dollar was buying $US1.046, in line with yesterday's local close. It was also buying 97.1 yen, 81.45 euro cents and 69.05 pence. SPI futures are 35 points lower at 4919 The $A is higher at $US1.046 In New York, the S&P500 was 1.05% lower at 1553.69 In Europe, the FTSE100 rose 1.08% to 6420.28 China iron ore lost 50 cents to $US135.60 a metric tonne Gold fell $US1.00 to $US1711.85 an ounce WTI crude oil fell 6 cents to $US85.87 a barrel Reuters/Jefferies CRB index was flat at 294.70 Making news today In economics news: ABS retail trade for February - 11.30am ABS building approvals for February - 11.30am Australian Industry Group/Commonwealth Bank Performance of Services Index - 9.30am In companies news: Macquarie Atlas Roads annual general meeting Analyst rating changes: Evolution Mining cut to underperform at Credit Suisse WorleyParsons raised to outperform at Credit Suisse Atlas Iron raised to neutral at Macquarie At 7am AEDT on Thursday, the Australian dollar is at 104.57 US cents, little changed from Wednesday's local close of 104.58 US cents. ""The higher interest rates of the Aussie dollar is providing a lot of value or attraction for investors,"" Mr Richardson said. ""That is going to continue to hold the Aussie dollar up."" US stocks dropped on Wednesday after weak economic indicators halted the market's upward momentum of recent weeks. Dow Jones Indus Avg lost 0.76% to 14,550.35 Nasdaq Composite lost 1.11% at 3218.60 Leading European stock markets fell sharply on Wednesday as dealers locked in profits from a technical spike a day earlier and investors took note of disappointing US economic data. London's FTSE 100 lost 1.08% to 6,420.28 Frankfurt's DAX 30 lost 0.87% to 7874.74 In Paris the CAC 40 lost 1.32% at 3,754.96 Hong Kong Tokyo stocks have jumped with the yen weakening as the Bank of Japan starts a key two-day policy meeting, while shares in other major Asian markets have mostly fallen despite Wall Street's surging to a record high. Japan's Nikkei added 2.99% to 12,362.20 China's Shanghai composite lost 0.11% to 2,225.30 Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.145 to 22,337.49 Commodities Energy Oil prices slumped after new data showed lofty supplies of US crude, suggesting weak demand in the world's biggest economy. Precious metals A rout across precious metals markets on Wednesday pushed gold futures to a nine-month low and left platinum at its lowest price so far this year. Base metals Base metals were mostly lower at the close of London Metal Exchange trading on Wednesday, weighed by some disappointing economic data from the world's largest economy. The Australian share market closed about 0.6 per cent lower amid mixed economic data and an eclectic mood. At the close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 27.8 points, or 0.56 per cent, at 4,957.7 points. The broader All Ordinaries index was down 29.1 points, or 0.58 per cent, at 4,966.4 points.