ASX set to start higher after Wall Street rally on Friday
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The news: The Australian sharemarket is set to start the week higher after Wall Street was buoyed by better than expected US jobs data on Friday.
The numbers: The Dow Jones index closed 0.80% higher and the broader S&P 500 gained 1.11% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 1.24%. In the local market, ASX 200 futures were up 41 points or 0.52% at 7,827 points at 8:00am AEDT on Monday.
The context: Wall Street stocks finished higher on Friday after new non-farm payroll data showed the US economy added 303,000 jobs in March, compared to the 214,000 expected by analysts. The US Labor Department report suggested the economy ended its first quarter strongly, but heightened expectations that the Federal Reserve could delay cutting interest rates.
Despite the US market rally on Friday, however, all three major Wall Street indices recorded declines for the week, as the Dow fell 2.3%, the S&P 500 dropped 1% and the Nasdaq lost 0.8%.
In the local market, the Australian Bureau of Statistics will release lending indicators figures for February at 11:30am AEDT, after January's data showed new loan commitments, seasonally adjusted, fell 3.9% for housing, and rose 6% for personal fixed loans.
The sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Bureau of Labor Statistics
