Australian shares are set to open higher on Friday, spurred by new records on Wall Street, and providing the potential for new peaks to be reached.
Futures trading pointed to a 0.4% increase in the main index when trading resumes on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) on a day with no economic news scheduled.
At the time of writing the S&P/ASX 200 index September share price index contract was trading 32 points above the previous settlement at 8,650.
“The good thing is the market is grinding higher,” Burrell Stockbroking wealth adviser Adam Dight said.
United States share markets rose to new highs on Thursday (Friday AEST) as corporate results and economic data helped investors overlook tensions about the relationship between President Donald Trump and the US Federal Reserve.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5%, the S&P 500 put on 0.5% to a record finish and the Nasdaq Composite increased 0.8%, also at another new high.
Positive U.S. economic data included a drop in jobless claims and an increase in retail sales while PepsiCo and United Airlines beat expectations with their quarterly results.
“(The data and earnings reports) are showing that the economic backdrop is still pretty solid, and so markets have been able to grind higher this week with some data to support where we are going," Ameriprise Financial Chief Market Strategist Anthony Saglimbene was quoted in a Reuters story as saying.
The Australian share market rose to an all-time high on Thursday after an increase in unemployment lifted the chances of an interest rate cut in August with the S&P/ASX 200 adding 0.9% to 8,639.0.
In Australian fixed interest markets, the yield curve for Australian Government bonds steepened as 10-year rates were steady at 4.336% and two-year rates fell 0.51% to 3.32%.
