ASX to open higher after Friday's record close
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The news: The Australian sharemarket is set to lift at the start of trading, after the ASX 200 closed at a record high on Friday, buoyed by activity on Wall Street.
The numbers: ASX 200 futures were up 11 points or 0.14% higher from last trade to 7,728 points at 8:00am AEDT on Tuesday.
On Friday, the benchmark ASX 200 followed the S&P 500 and Nasdaq by closing on a record high, up 0.61% to 7,745.6. The tech-heavy Nasdaq finished at 16,091.92, climbing 0.9%, boosted by technology stocks including Nvidia and Microsoft. The Dow Jones index closed 0.12% higher, while the broader S&P 500 rose 0.52%.
The context: This week, investors in the local market will be looking ahead to Wednesday's quarterly GDP figures release by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, with expectations that the economy slowed to 0.3% growth in the quarter.
In the US, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell is due to give a two-day testimony before US Congress on Wednesday and Thursday. This could be his last public steer before the Fed's mid-March meeting at which policymakers will assess progress on their fight against inflation and potentially signal when they may start cutting interest rates.
Elsewhere, China will release its annual GDP target from its annual Two Sessions meetings that begin on Monday, and the European Central Bank will announce its latest monetary policy on Friday.
