SYDNEY (Thomson Financial) - Australian shares are expected to open firmer Monday following positive leads from offshore markets,including strong gains on Wall Street on Friday.
'The leads are positive but we're in an overbought position - I really thought we should be consolidating at a lower level,' Smith said.
The S&P/ASX 200 ended its last session up 58 points at 6,784.0, suggesting a positive start to trading.
On Friday, the market closed firmer as investors bought mining stocks on the belief that commodity prices would stay stronger for longer.
The S&P/ASX 200 closed up 76.3 points or 1.2 percent at 6,700.6, though for the week it was down 6.3 points.
In New York, share prices posted solid gains on Friday, underpinned by positive outlook statements by Microsoft and Countrywide Financial, which outweighed investor concerns about the economy.
News Corp ended up 0.1 percent on Friday.
In London, share prices closed higher on Friday after investors took their cue from Wall Street. Britain's Kingfisher Plc, the world's third-largest home improvement retailer, was the biggest winner, surging more than 7 percent on rumours the company may be a takeover target.
The FTSE closed up 85 points or 1.3 percent at 6,661.9.
BHP Billiton ended up 2.5 percent and Rio Tinto surged 4.3 percent after wrapping up its 32.1 billion US dollar takeover of Canada's Alcan.
Oil prices breached 92 US dollars a barrel for the first time last week on supply concerns after the US imposed new sanctions on Iran and Turkish troops remained stationed on the Iraq border to counter Kurdish rebels. In addition, armed militants attacked a Nigerian oil rig operated by Italy's ENI, shutting in 50,000 barrels per day of production.
On Friday, light, sweet crude for December delivery rose 1.40 dollars to close at 91.86 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after surging as high as 92.22 dollars on Thursday night, a new trading record.
Gold prices surged to their highest level in 27 years on Friday as soaring energy prices, growing political uncertainty and weakness in the dollar triggered higher demand for precious metals. December gold prices rose 16.50 dollars to close at 787.50 dollars an ounce on the Nymex, the highest level since 1980.
Base metal prices advanced on Friday in tandem with other commodity prices, as the dollar lost ground against major currencies. Copper was supported by a sharp fall in Shanghai Futures Exchange inventories and news China almost doubled its exports of the red metal in the nine months to September 30.
(1 US dollar = 1.09 Australian dollars)
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