The Australian share market ended the first trading day of the week slightly higher amid lower volumes ahead of this week's key data releases.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 stock index was up 0.07 per cent at 5,998.3 points at 1630 AEDT on Monday, with modest gains for the miners, banks and energy companies propping up the bourse.
CMC Markets chief market strategist Michael McCarthy said that, despite modest US and European leads, the local markets had a disappointing day of "almost holiday affected" trade.
"It was a disappointing session: the US dollar is strengthening and there's been overnight leads but volumes are down around 20 per cent, which all suggests a degree of caution ahead of market moving data later in the week," Mr McCarthy said.
Locally, the energy companies were higher on the near two per cent rise in global oil prices, with Santos gaining one per cent per cent at $5.05, Woodside up 0.6 per cent to $31.75 and Oil Search 0.6 per cent stronger to $7.30.
Mining heavyweights BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto also ended the day 0.1 per cent and 0.4 per cent higher respectively, while Fortescue Metals gained 1.1 per cent, with a strong trade report from China on Friday offsetting recent volatility in the price of iron ore.
The major banks were mixed, with Commonwealth Bank ahead by 0.5 per cent, the ANZ steady, and National Australia Bank and Westpac losing 0.1 per cent and 0.3 per cent respectively.
Shares in Retail Food Group, the owner of such staples as Gloria Jean's, Donut King and Brumby's Bakery's, collapsed 26.1 per cent to $3.25 - a more-than-five-year low - after allegations its business model was running franchisees into the ground.
Shares in Downer EDI were 0.9 per cent higher, after the engineering group's tie up with Ausenco secured a major contract with Oz Minerals.
AWE Limited shares have jumped 16.4 per cent to an 18-month high of 85 cents after the takeover target said it received a rival bid from Mineral Resources, valuing it at $484 million, countering last week's second bid from a Chinese state owned energy corporation.
Meanwhile, the Australian dollar is above 75 US cents against a rising greenback, which lifted following better-than-expected US jobs figures and the anticipation if an interest rate rise this week.
ON THE ASX:
* The benchmark S&P/ASX200 closed up 3.9 points, or 0.07 per cent, at 5,998.3 points
* The broader All Ordinaries index was up 4.5 points, or 0.07 per cent, at 6,081.9 points
* The SPI200 futures contract were flat at 6,004 points
* National turnover was 4.466 billion securities traded worth $5.129 billion
CURRENCY SNAPSHOT AT 1700 AEDT:
One Australian dollar buys:
* 75.25 US cents, from 75.14 on Friday
* 85.46 Japanese yen, from 85.20 yen
* 63.89 euro cents, from 63.86 euro cents
* 56.17 British pence, from 55.61 pence
* 108.98 NZ cents, from 109.89 cents
GOLD:
The spot price of gold in Sydney at 1700 AEDT was $US1,249.44 per fine ounce, from $US1,249.28 per fine ounce on Friday.
The S&P 500 and the Dow were flat in early morning trading after an explosion rocked New York's Port Authority, one of the city's busiest commuter hubs.
Police confirmed one suspect is in custody but were yet to identify the device used. Local news channel WABC cited police sources as saying a possible pipe bomb detonated in a passageway below ground at Port Authority.
"When you see one of these events in a major city, you get a little cautious tone. But it's never enough to really rout a stock market intraday," said Michael Antonelli, managing director, institutional sales trading at Robert W. Baird in Milwaukee.
At 9.37am local time on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 8.85 points, or 0.04 per cent, at 24,320.31, the S&P 500 was up 1.14 points, or 0.04 per cent, at 2,652.64 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 18.81 points, or 0.28 per cent, at 6,858.89.
Technology stocks led the gainers on the S&P 500, rising 0.41 per cent, while financial stocks were the biggest losers. Energy stocks also rose on the back of rise in oil prices after the explosion.
Interest in the surge in bitcoin and opening of futures trading continued to fuel bets on crypotcurrency-related stocks, many of which have risen exponentially in value in the past three months.
Shares of Marathon Patent, Riot Blockchain , Overstock.com and Xunei were up between 10 per cent and 24 per cent.
Bitcoin futures jumped more than 20 per cent in the US debut on Sunday, which backers hope will encourage wider use and give legitimacy to cryptocurrency.
Market expectations of an interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve later this week firmed up after a jobs report showed that the economy added 228,000 jobs in November.
However, sluggish wage growth has raise doubts about the central bank's plan to raise interest rates thrice in 2018.
"We've got the Fed meeting where it's pretty much factored in that the Fed is going to be raising rates. The concern is what they are going to say about going forward," said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James in St Petersburg, Florida.
Source: Nine.com.au Finance
Breakfast this morning includes a little bit of bacon just so you don't go completely cold turkey. Egg White Omelettes and strawberry smoothies.
Happy Trading! A few stocks are back in business today after halts - CKA, MYQ, DCC.
