Australian market set to open sharply up

THE Australian market looks set to follow strong gains on international markets after Donald Trump said he would release a “phenomenal” tax plan soon.

THE Australian market looks set to open nearly half a per cent higher following strong gains on international markets after US president Donald Trump said he would release a “phenomenal” tax plan soon.

At 0700 AEDT on Friday, the share price futures index was up 26 points, or 0.46 per cent at 5,636.

Wall Street hit record highs, European markets found two-week highs helped by strong major company results and financials’ gains on President Trump’s comments while Asia, apart from Tokyo, reached 18-month peaks.

Investors have been waiting for details on the president’s election campaign pledge to stimulate economic growth with large-scale fiscal stimulus through infrastructure spending and tax cuts.

In a meeting with airline executives he said his administration will be announcing “something phenomenal in terms of tax” over “the next two or three weeks”.

Locally, in major economic news on Friday, the Reserve Bank of Australia releases its Statement on Monetary Policy, while the Australian Bureau of Statistics releases December housing finance data.

In equities news, REA Group and News Corp are slated to release results. The Australian market on Thursday edged higher as investors digested mixed earnings reports from the likes of miner Rio Tinto, investment manager AMP and AGL Energy.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index rose 13.2 points, or 0.23 per cent, to 5,664.6 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index gained 14.3 points, or 0.25 per cent, to 5,717.7 points.

Meanwhile, the Australian dollar fell slightly against the US dollar. The local currency was trading at 76.26 US cents at 0700 AEDT on Friday, from 76.32 on Thursday.

CURRENCY SNAPSHOT AT 0700 AEDT:

One Australian dollar buys:

* 76.26 US cents, from 76.32 on Thursday

* 86.44 Japanese yen, from 85.56 yen

* 71.57 euro cents, from 71.40 cents

* 61.06 British pence, from 60.98 pence

* 106.06 New Zealand cents, from 105.88 NZ cents

(*Currency closes taken at 1700 AEDT previous local session)