Australian shares opened higher on Monday after Wall Street finished the week in positive territory amid growing optimism about a peace agreement between the United States and Iran.
The ASX 200 index was trading 1% higher by 10:20 am AEST (12:20 am GMT).
The direction was set by United States stocks, which ended higher on Friday (Saturday AEST) as investors awaited a U.S.-Iran peace deal, buoyed by a sharp fall in oil prices and a surge in SpaceX shares on their debut in Wall Street's biggest public listing.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.7%, the S&P 500 put on 0.5%, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.3% on the final day of the week.
Longbow Asset Management chief executive officer Jake Dollarhide said the reported progress in peace talks helped lift sentiment.
"There's still hope for a peace deal. Trump called off the attacks ... Third parties are confirming a peace deal is happening," he was quoted in a Reuters story published on Friday (Saturday AEST).
The U.S. and Iran have since agreed to a peace deal, according to announcements from U.S. President Donald Trump and Pakistan.
Investor attention on Wall Street on Friday was dominated by the historic market debut of Elon Musk's SpaceX, which surged 19.2% on its first day of trading on the Nasdaq, raising its market capitalisation above US$2 trillion.
The Australian market had notched the biggest daily advance since April on Friday, with the ASX 200 soaring 170.8 points, or 2%, to close at 8,804.0.
Stocks to watch today include the market operator, the ASX (ASX: ASX), which will reportedly seek Federal Court approval for a settlement deal under which it admits making a misleading statement about the status of its CHESS replacement project.
In fixed interest markets, Australian Government bond yields fell, with two-year yields sliding 0.49% to 4.463% and 10-year yields losing 0.42% to 4.794 at the time of writing.
