Australian shares are poised to end the week on a positive note if indications of the opening are any guide and following a positive lead-in from Wall Street.
The ASX 200 index is expected to begin 0.56% above the previous close, with the June futures contract quoted 49 points above the prior settlement at 8,720 points at the time of writing.
New York provided a positive backdrop with a rally by technology stocks driving the three main indexes at least 0.7% higher on Thursday (Friday), and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite setting new highs.
U.S. stocks were also helped by mostly good economic data as investors monitored events in Beijing, where U.S. President Trump was meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.8%, putting it just 0.3% below its record closing peak on 10 February, while the S&P 500 rose 0.8% and the Nasdaq put on 0.9%.
"Everybody's asking the same question: how much longer does this (rally) go on? There's a lot of people that are loving this rally, but they're also antsy at the same time," Dakota Wealth senior portfolio manager Robert Pavlik was quoted as saying in a Reuters article.
"You have to be in it to win it, not just sitting on the sidelines watching the market go to all-time highs."
The Australian market snapped a four-day losing streak on Thursday by ending slightly firmer as gains in major miners and banks offset weakness across technology and consumer staples stocks to leave the ASX 200 Index up 0.1% at 8,640.7.
Burrell Stockbroking wealth adviser Adam Dight said investors were being advised to gradually lift their exposure to equities.
“We’re still telling clients to put another 20% (of their cash) back into the market every week so that by 1 July they have the perfect portfolio,” he said.
In Australian fixed interest markets, government bond yields dropped, with two-year rates down 1.95% to 4.670% and 10-year rates off by 1.60% to 4.985% at the time of writing.
