SYDNEY (Thomson Financial) - Australian shares are expected to open slightly higher Monday as investors react to stronger than expected job numbers in the US and also seek bargains after weakness in the market at the end of last week.
'There may be a slightly higher start to trading though it will be tentative - there's a few issues in front of us including interest rates,' said Stuart Smith, a private client advisor at Bell Potter Securities.
He said his firm is expecting the Reserve Bank of Australia to hike its target cash rate by 25 basis points to 6.75 percent on Wednesday.
'We're expecting the rate rise along with the rest of the marke, but the main thing is the market is in for a bit of downward correction technically even though we may see some buying this morning,' Smith said.
The S&P/ASX 200 December futures contract ended its last session up 25 points at 6,723, suggesting a mildly positive start to trading.
On Friday, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 132.1 points or 1.9 percent to end at 6,696.6 and the All Ordinaries index lost 126.9 points or 1.9 percent to 6,726.7.
In New York, share prices ended a shaky session Friday up slightly after non-farm payrolls data for October showed employers added 160,000 jobs in the month, much better than had been expected.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 27.23 points or 0.2 percent at 13,595.1 points.
New Corp fell 0.5 percent.
In London, share prices ended down, mirroring early weakness in New York on concerns about a faltering US economy. The FTSE 100 index ended down 55.5 points or 0.8 percent at 6,530.6.
BHP Billiton fell 1.5 percent and Rio Tinto dropped 0.9 percent.
Crude oil prices lifted by 2.5 percent on Friday with buying interest provoked by a stronger-than-expected US employment reading and a weaker US dollar. The December Nymex crude oil contract rose 2.44 US dollars to 95.93 dollars a barrel.
Base metal prices were mixed on the London Metal Exchange on Friday largely due to end of week book-squaring.
The gold price soared to fresh 28-year highs, taking its direction from higher oil prices and a weaker greenback. At the close, the most-active December Comex gold contract was up 14.80 at 808.50 US dollars an ounce.
Ahead in Australia today, ANZ will release its October survey of job advertisements.
(1 US dollar = 1.09 Australian dollars)
bruce.hextall@thomson.com - bhx/ng COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2007. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News.