Australia’s sharemarket is set to trade near record highs on Monday, buoyed by growing investor optimism as the U.S. Federal Reserve gears up for its first interest rate cut in over four years.
Futures indicate that the S&P/ASX 200 Index will open 16 points, or 0.2%, higher than Friday’s close of 8099.9 points, positioning it to surpass the previous record of 8114.7 points set in August.
Last week, the benchmark index gained over 1%, driven by increasing confidence that the Fed has successfully managed a soft landing for the US economy. Investors are hopeful that the central bank will lower interest rates from their current 23-year high of 5.25% to 5.5% during Thursday’s meeting (AEST).
This renewed market optimism also fueled gains on Wall Street. On Friday, the S&P 500 rose by 0.5% to 5626 points, edging closer to its record high reached last month.
Ahead in the week, local market participants will be closely monitoring August's employment change data on Thursday.
On the bond markets, 10-year and 2-year rates were at 3.807% and 3.466%, respectively.