Australian shares are set to open higher on Monday after U.S. stock indices rebounded from a bad week to finish in positive territory on Friday.
At 9:20 am AEDT (10:20 pm GMT Sunday) the S&P/ASX 200 March share price index contract was quoted 69 points (0.9%) higher than the previous settlement at 7,942 points.
As usual the market was strongly influenced by the performance on Wall Street where the major U.S. indices closed higher on the last day of a bad week for equities investors.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.5%, the S&P 500 added 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite climbed by 0.7% but over the week they lost 2.4%, 3.1% and 3.5% respectively amid continued concern about U.S. trade policies.
The rebound was helped by U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell saying the US economy was "in a good place".
A stronger start would mark a turnaround for the benchmark Australian shares index which had closed 1.8% lower on Friday at 7,948.2 points as real estate stocks led a retreat by 10 of the 11 ASX sectors.
The expected opening flagged by futures trading would take the index back through the 8,000 point barrier breached on Friday.
Among the stocks being monitored more closely today will be those going ex-dividend such as CSL (ASX: CSL), Nine Entertainment (ASX: NEC), Super Retail Group (ASX: SUL), Iress (ASX: IRE) and Adairs (ASX: ADH).
At 11:00 am the Westpac–Melbourne Institute Consumer Sentiment Index for March is scheduled to be published.
Yields were lower on the bond market with 10-year paper down 0.63% to 4.424% and two-year rates 0.37% off at 3.792%.
