Australia

Despite the first shots in Donald Trump's trade war, the Australian share market is set to open higher after gains on Wall St and strong momentum from last week.

In the US last week, strong jobs growth data boosted markets, helping them cope as the US and China's tit-for-tat trade war began, with $US34 billion ($45.8bn) of tariffs on imports.

At 8.30am Sydney time this morning, the Australian futures index was up 26 at 6250. The Australian dollar is buying 74.32 US cents.

BP has offered well in excess of $US10 billion for BHP's US shale assets. BP leads bidding for BHP's US energy assets: BP has offered well in excess of $13.5 billion for BHP's US onshore shale oil and gas assets, sources told Reuters.

The US listed shares of BHP rose 1.8 per cent; Rio Tinto's gained 1.1 per cent.

The Australian share market closed last week on a decade-high as Asian markets absorbed the news of the start of the trade war. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 closed up 0.91 per cent at 6272.3 points on Friday, the highest level since December 2007, while the broader All Ordinaries index gained 0.84 per cent, at 6355.7 points.

ANZ led the big banks' charge, rallying 2 per cent to $28.99, followed by Commonwealth Bank, up 1.6 per cent to $75.67, while NAB rose 1.6 per cent to $27.96 and Westpac gained 0.9 per cent to $29.78. The materials sector also lifted, led by South32, which jumped 2.6 per cent to $3.62.

This week: June NAB survey to be released on Tuesday, which is predicted to show continuing strength in business conditions.

A Westpac/MI consumer survey for July, out on Wednesday, will likely show consumer conditions running around average levels. Housing data for May, also out on Wednesday, is tipped to remain soft, with another fall.

Asia

China's stocks pared earlier losses on Friday but lengthened a string of weekly declines.

The benchmark CSI300 Index closed up 0.7 per cent, but was still down 4.2 per cent for the week, its fifth straight weekly loss.

The Shanghai Composite Index ended up 0.5 per cent after flirting with two-year lows in the morning session. It ended the week 3.5 per cent lower, its seventh straight week of losses.

Japan's Nikkei ended 1.1 per cent higher to 21,788.14, snapping a four-day losing streak. The index dropped 2.3 per cent for the week, posting third weekly declines.

Europe

The Stoxx Europe 600 index closed up 0.2 per cent at 382.36 as traders shrugged off trade war fears for now, while sentiment was helped by US data revealing that more jobs were created but wage growth was weaker than expected.

Germany's DAX ends up 0.3 per cent, France's CAC 40 up 0.2 per cent, and the UK's FTSE 100 up 0.2 per cent. Spain's IBEX 35 performs better, up 0.4 per cent, while Italy's FTSE MIB ends marginally higher, up 0.05 per cent.

North America

US stocks have climbed, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq hitting their highest levels in two weeks, as strong US jobs growth blunted the impact of the trade dispute.

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 213,000 jobs last month, the US Labor Department said on Friday, topping expectations of 195,000, while the unemployment rate rose from an 18-year low to 4 per cent and average hourly earnings rose 0.2 per cent.

The moderate wage growth allayed fears of a strong build-up in inflation pressures and boosted optimism that the Federal Reserve would stay on a path of gradual interest rate increases.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 99.74 points, or 0.41 per cent, to 24,456.48, the S&P 500 gained 23.21 points, or 0.85 per cent, to 2,759.82 and the Nasdaq Composite added 101.96 points, or 1.34 per cent, to 7,688.39.

All of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors posted gains.For the week, the Dow increased 0.7 per cent, the S&P 500 rose 1.5 per cent, and the Nasdaq gained 2.4 per cent.

Shares of Biogen rose 19.6 per cent, their biggest percentage gain in more than a decade, after the company and Japanese drugmaker Eisai said their Alzheimer's drug showed promise in a mid-stage trial. Biogen led the S&P 500 in percentage gains and was among the biggest boosts to the index.

 

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Morningstar with AAP

Lex Hall is a Morningstar content editor, based in Sydney.

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