Australian share prices are set to open higher after the major United States stock indices rallied on Friday ahead of the inauguration of Donald Trump as President on Tuesday morning (AEDT).
At 9:30 am AEDT (10:30 pm GMT Sunday) the S&P/ASX 200 March share price index (SPI) march contract was 28 points or 0.33% higher at 8,290 points.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.8%, the S&P 500 rallied 1% and the Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.5% on Friday.
CommSec said in its morning report this was the best week on Wall street since the November presidential election, noting sentiment was aided by headlines that Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping had discussed trade, Chinese-owned social media site TikTok and the synthetic opioid fentanyl.
Although US stock markets will be closed on Tuesday (AEDT) for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, strategists will be watching for any relevant announcements from the new administration once Trump is sworn in as the 47th U.S. president.
The S&P/ASX200 had closed 16.60 points or 0.20% lower on Friday at 8,310.40 despite eight of 11 sectors finishing higher. Financials and communication services sectors ended lower.
On fixed interest markets, Australian Government bonds yields were higher with 10-year paper up 0.38% at 4.526% and two-year paper was down at 0.13% at 3.968%.
