Trump, banks to buoy local shares

Australia's share market is set for a strong start to the week fed by Wall Street gains, stronger commodity prices and Donald Trump.

Market gains are displayed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX)

Australia's share market is set to rise on Monday buoyed by record highs on Wall Street. (AAP)

Australia's share market is set to rise on Monday buoyed by record highs on Wall Street, a surge in commodity prices and slated US tax reforms.

The futures market is expected to be up 10 points at the start of Monday's trade after the S&P tallied its fourth straight season of gains and the Dow Jones index rose to 96.97 points on Friday, all fed by US President Donald Trump's promise of "phenomenal" tax reform.

The oil price also went up, which in turn buoyed energy stocks, with copper up 4.5 per cent and iron ore by 3.3 per cent.

Local sentiment is set to be positive this week with reporting season revealing solid growth, AMP Capital's chief economist Shane Oliver told AAP.

He also expects the National Australia Bank's business survey on Tuesday to reveal a slight pullback in conditions after December's stronger figures.

But he predicted a slight improvement in Westpac's consumer confidence survey on Wednesday off the back of "mediocre" sentiment.

The unemployment rate is set to remain at 5.8 per cent on Thursday with the addition of 10,000 jobs in January, Dr Oliver said.

Encouraging profit results can be expected from JB Hi-Fi and NewCrest Mining (Monday), Wesfarmers (Wednesday) and Virgin Australia (Friday).

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia is also set for modest gains on Wednesday.

"Banks have been going for a more constrained environment lately, reflecting a rise in their funding costs and slower growth in credit - so CBA will probably see a rise but relatively modest profit growth," Dr Oliver said.

He also said that US inflation figures coming out this week, as well as the Federal Reserve Bank's appearance before Congress and Japanese GDP growth, would likely point to a global economy on the mend.

The Australian dollar is currently sitting at 76.8 US cents.

"Last year's 78c was the ceiling ... I wouldn't be surprised if, somewhere in the next few weeks, we'll see a retest of that," Dr Oliver said.


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Published 12 February 2017 1:04pm
Source: AAP


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