Australian stocks have opened higher after Wall Street’s Dow Jones and S&P 500 both hit fresh record highs.
IG market strategist Evan Lucas said the local market was benefiting from the US’ solid lead, although trading volumes were likely to remain light.
He said investors were waiting for key economic news due out of the US in the next 24 hours, including the release of a private sector employment report and the end of the US Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC).
Markets will be watching the FOMC statement for indications of when the Fed is likely to start winding back its stimulus program.
“There is going to be a few things that will stay the hand of investors during today’s session and that will probably make today a little less volatile than we’ve seen in the past few days,” he said.
Among the big four banks, ANZ was up 22 cents at $33.85 a day after announcing a record $6.5 billion profit, Commonwealth Bank was 45 cents higher at $77.24 and Westpac had climbed 29 cents to $34.89.
But, National Australia Bank had underperformed. Its shares were down one cent at $36.67 ahead of the release of its full year results on Thursday.
“That could suggest that the market expects a bit of a flat number tomorrow,” Mr Lucas said.
In the resources sector, BHP Billiton was up 10 cents at $37.69, Rio Tinto had gained eight cents to $63.49 and Fortescue Metals was half a cent higher at $5.325.
KEY FACTS
* At 1030 AEDT on Wednesday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was 24.8 points, or 0.46 per cent, higher at 5,440.3.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was up 23.6 points, or 0.44 per cent, at 5,434.3.
* The December share price index futures contract was 20 points higher at 5,428, with 7,031 contracts traded.
* National turnover was $402 million securities worth $682 million.
