The share market is modestly higher as investors hope upcoming central bank meetings provide further support for low interest rates.
With little news to stimulate trade, the market’s recent positive momentum was being maintained by optimism about the week ahead, IG Markets strategist Stan Shamu said.
“It looks like the market is now starting to focus on upcoming central bank meetings,” he said.
The Reserve Bank of Australia meets on Tuesday, while the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan are among others to meet later in the week.
Mr Shamu said investors are hoping to hear comments in support of low interest rates, particularly from the ECB.
“Some actually expect it to provide some further stimulus or perhaps another rate cut,” he said.
“That would probably be positive for global markets.”
The property sector was one of the best performers to start the week, while the mining sector was mixed and the banks were relatively flat.
The operator of Westfield shopping centres in Australia and New Zealand, Scentre Group, was up eight cents at $3.51, Goodman Group was up 8.5 cents at $5.665 and Dexus Property Group was two cents higher at $1.225.
BHP Billiton was 14.5 cents higher at $36.815, Rio Tinto had added 46 cents to $63.09 while Fortescue Metals was down five cents at $4.12.
National Australia Bank was steady at $35.20, ANZ was up eight cents at $33.51, Commonwealth Bank was up 19 cents at $81.51 and Westpac was up 10.5 cents at $35.145.
Telstra had picked up 3.5 cents to $5.595, while Qantas shares dropped for the first time since posting its massive loss, shedding 2.25 cents to $1.4475.
KEY FACTS
* At 1220 AEST on Monday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 13.5 points, or 0.23 per cent, at 5,639.1 points.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was up 13.2 points, or 0.23 per cent, at 5,637.8 points.
* The September share price index futures contract was up six points at 5,621 points, with 9,696 contracts traded.
* National turnover was 956 million securities worth $1.49 billion.