Investors hoping the Australian sharemarket will rise for a fourth consecutive week should be reassured at least in the short term, with the benchmark index set to open higher on Monday.
Futures trading on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) points to the ASX 200 index beginning 0.77% firmer than the previous close when trading resumes at 10:00 am AEST (12:00 pm GMT Sunday).
This is the indication from the most heavily traded futures contract, June, which was last quoted 70 points over the prior settlement at 9,056 points at the time of writing.
The index has risen for three successive weeks despite falling on Friday and, with the increase flagged by the futures market, should go back over the important 9,000 mark.
But the U.S. market sent conflicting signals on Friday, with two of the three main equity markets ending lower as investors awaited developments in the Middle East conflict, where a fragile ceasefire remained in place.
While the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.6% and the S&P 500 gave up 0.1%, the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.4%.
Claims of ceasefire violations, including Israel's bombing of Lebanon, have threatened the truce, while the Strait of Hormuz remained closed by Iran.
Argent Capital Management portfolio manager Jed Ellerbroek said traders were reluctant to be exposed to market movements ahead of negotiations on a weekend when markets were closed.
"For that reason, there is this recent trend over the last month-and-a-half, where the market does well on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, and it does poorly on Thursdays and Fridays," Ellerbroek was quoted in a Reuters story as saying.
The Australian market had finished down on Friday with the ASX 200 losing 0.1% to 8,960.6 as nine of the 11 sectors closed lower but the index has risen for three weeks in a row.
In fixed interest markets, yields on Australian Government bonds rose with two-year rates firming 0.62% to 4.742% and 10-year rates gaining 0.70% to 5.028% at the time of writing.
