The ASX 200 is looking a solid gain this morning after Wall Street ended Friday’s session up more than 1% on reports that China and the US had reached some sort of partial deal in their ongoing trade dispute.
Eurozone shares rose 2% on Friday and the US S&P 500 rose 1.1% on news the US and China had sorted out the outlines of a partial trade deal.
Trading on the overnight futures market on Friday saw the ASX Share Price Index rise 34 points by the close.
That half a percent gain will make for a steadying start to the week that will be dominated by the start of the September monthly and quarterly economic data from China and updates on this suggested partial trade deal.
The Netflix result on Thursday morning, our time (See separate story) could, if bad, trigger a big sell-off.
Trading on the ASX last week was again volatile with swings and gains.
The ASX 200 added 1.4% for the week, its first increase in three weeks.
The Aussie dollar ended at 67.94 US cents in offshore trading on Saturday morning, our time, the highest close since September 24 and within sight of topping 68 cents today if the reports on the progress of the US-China trade brawl prove to be accurate.
Australian bond yields also jumped with benchmark 10-year rates lifting to 1.018%, well above Thursday’s low of 0.87% which was close to the all time low of 0.83%.
Oil rose on Friday so that should help local oil stocks but gold slid $US7.40 to $US1,493 an ounce on Comex. That will see gold stocks trimmed a little.
