SYDNEY (Thomson Financial) - Australian shares are expected to open higher in an abbreviated session Monday following strong gains on Friday on Wall Street, which was lifted by strong consumer spending figures and a continued rally in technology stocks.
The market closes at 2.00 pm (0300 GMT) and there will be no trading tomorrow and on Wednesday for Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
'Our market futures are positive, reflecting good indicators on Friday,' said Stuart Smith, a private client advisor at Bell Potter Securities.
'Market volume is starting to improve - and that's important. With this state of play, we'll kick a few goals today,' he said.
The S&P/ASX 200 March futures contract ended up 44 points at 6,368.
On Friday, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 70.1 points or 1.1 percent at 6,247.0. For the week the index lost 3.9 percent.
The All Ordinaries was up 64.6 points or 1.0 percent at 6,309.4.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 205.01 points or 1.6 percent to 13,450.65 after data showed US consumer spending rose 1.1 percent in November, the fastest pace in three and a half years.
News Corp gained 3.2 percent. Private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners yesterday said it will buy eight TV stations from the media giant for 1.1 billion US dollars in cash.
London shares closed firmer, aided by an early jump on Wall Street and mining heavyweights, helping fuel a late Santa rally. The FTSE 100 rose 88.5 points to 6,434.1.
BHP Billiton rose 3.1 percent and Rio Tinto added 2.9 percent after the UK Takeover Panel said that BHP, the world's largest mining group, must make its offer for Rio by Feb 6.
The local share market is also expected to receive a fillip today from base metal prices surging on the London Metal Exchange on Friday.
The price of copper jumped over 4 percent after rising by the daily limit in China on expectations that demand would remain firm in the face of the sixth interest rate hike in that country this year.
Crude oil prices rose on Friday following the solid performance of US equity markets and the better-than-expected economic data. The February crude oil contract rose 2.25 dollars to 93.31 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The price of gold also rallied, taking direction from the higher oil price. The most-active February contract rose 12.20 dollars to 815.40 dollars an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
(1 US dollar = 1.15 Australian dollars)
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