Australian shares to start ahead after gains on Wall Street

The news: The Australian sharemarket is likely to start higher on Monday, tracking gains on Wall Street on Friday as data held out hopes the US Federal Reserve will not need to hike rates further.

The numbers: The Dow Jones index rose 0.66%, while the broader S&P 500 gained 0.94%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 1.38%. In the local market, ASX 200 futures were trading 14 points or 0.2% higher at 7000 points at 7:00am AEDT on Monday.

The context: The major US indexes ended last week higher after data showed US nonfarm payrolls increased by a less than expected 150,000 jobs in October, an indication of slowing US jobs growth and an uptick in unemployment. It boosted hopes that the Federal Reserve is done with its interest rate hiking campaign and also helped push US Treasury yields lower for the fourth consecutive session. In the local market, all eyes will be fixed on the Reserve Bank’s decision on interest rates on Tuesday, with markets betting on a 25 basis points hike amid sticky inflation.