Australian shares set to lift after Wall Street gains

The news: The Australian sharemarket is set to open higher following a higher close for the major US indices on the back of broad-based gains led by technology stocks.

The numbers: Updated at 7:25am AEDT:

• ASX futures: up 37 points or 0.45% at 8,321 points
• Wall Street: Dow Jones up 0.51%, S&P 500 up 0.80%, Nasdaq up 0.87%
• Europe: FTSE 100 up 0.47%, CAC 40 up 0.32%, DAX up 0.69%
• Spot gold: down 0.16% at USD2,652.41 per ounce
• Oil prices: Brent down 1.85% at USD77.58/ barrel, US WTI down 2.12% at USD73.96/bbl
• AUD: down 0.2% at 67.26 US cents
• Bitcoin: up 5.7% at USD65,822.42

The context: Both the S&P 500 and the Dow closed at fresh record highs, as investors bought into technology stocks ahead of a busy week packed with corporate earnings and crucial economic data.

What to Watch: Annual general meetings for Telstra, suburban mall landlord Region Group and New Zealand’s Meridian Energy. The Federal Court will hold a preliminary hearing today in Sydney regarding beauty entrepreneur Linda Rogan’s attempt to set aside a bankruptcy notice issued by WiseTech co-founder Richard White.