Australian investors will be looking at Sunday’s August trade data from China for a guide to trading sentiment today after an uncertain end on Wall Street on Friday night.
Friday’s session offshore saw Eurozone shares rise 0.2% on Friday while the US S&P 500 added 0.1% with the August US jobs data and comments by Fed Chair Powell supporting expectations for a 0.25% Fed rate cut next week.
ASX 200 futures though fell 0.1% pointing to a soft start to trade for the ASX later this morning.
Last week saw the ASX 200 rise up 42.7 points, or 0.7%, extending the rebound from the lows struck in mid-August to nearly 4%.
On Friday, the ASX 200 closed 0.5% or 34.1 points higher at 6,647.3, leaving it at the highest level since early last month.
The rise over the week was driven by the usual suspects – the big four banks and three miners.
CBA shares rose 0.6% over the week, ANZ shares added 1.2%, NAB, 1.4% and Westpac shares closed up 1.4%.
BHP shares edged up 0.06%, Rio Shares jumped 3.2% but Fortescue shares jumped more than 5% as iron ore prices steadied.
Australian bond yields reversed course with benchmark 10-year yields lifting from 0.89% to 1.09% over the week, reflecting the shift away from safe-haven assets given the improvement in investor mood.
The Aussie dollar ended around 68.50 US cents.
