Australian market set to open up

THE Australian market looks set to open slightly higher ahead of US president Donald Trump’s first address to a joint session of Congress. At 0700 AEDT on Tuesday, the share price futures index was up seven points at 5,700.

US stocks have struggled to find direction in afternoon trading, shortly after the S&P 500 and the Dow hit record intraday highs on President Donald Trump’s comments of a “big” infrastructure statement on Tuesday.

The president’s first address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday evening is being closely watched by investors for clues on how he plans to carry out his agenda of boosting economic growth.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is flat, up just 0.09 per cent, while the S&P 500 is 0.12 per cent higher and the Nasdaq has gained 0.19 per cent. Locally, in economic news on Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of Australia releases financial aggregates data, while the Australian Bureau of Statistics releases balance of payments and international investment position figures for the December quarter.

In equities news, Select Harvests, Specialty Fashion Group, Surfstitch, AWE and Harvey Norman are slated to release earnings results.

The Australian market on Monday closed lower due to large falls from the heavyweight energy and banking sectors.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index lost 14.8 points, or 0.26 per cent, at 5,724.2 points The broader All Ordinaries index fell 13.1 points, or 0.23 per cent, at 5,773.8 points.

Meanwhile, the Australian dollar has fallen against its US counterpart. The local currency was trading at 76.79 US cents at 0700 AEDT on Tuesday, from 76.92 on Monday.