On Friday the S&P/ASX 200 index finished the day with a small gain of 4.6 points to 6,180.7 points.
Will the market be able to build on this on Monday? Here are five things to watch:
ASX futures pointing higher.
According to the latest SPI futures, the ASX 200 is expected to open the day higher on Monday. The latest futures contracts are pointing to a gain of 18 points or 0.3% this morning. This follows a positive finish to the week on Wall Street which saw the Dow Jones rise 0.8%, the S&P 500 climbed 0.7% and the Nasdaq push 0.8% higher.
Oil prices surge higher.
Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT) and Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) shares could start the week on a positive note after oil prices surged higher on Friday. According to Bloomberg, the WTI crude oil price rose 1.4% to US$60.14 a barrel and the Brent crude oil prices climbed 0.7% to US$67.58 a barrel. This latest gain meant that WTI crude oil had its best quarter in around a decade, rising 32% during the first three months of the year.
Gold prices drops lower.
Australian gold miners including Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX: NCM) and St Barbara Ltd (ASX: SBM) will be watch on Monday after the gold price failed to rebound on Friday. The spot gold price is now fetching US$1,291.9 an ounce, down 1.7% from this time last week.
Transurban CEO sells shares.
The Transurban Group (ASX: TCL) share price hit an all-time high last week. Just prior to that the toll road giant's CEO, Scott Charlton, offloaded approximately a quarter of his shares. According to the change of director's notice, Mr Charlton sold 500,000 shares for an average of $12.94 per share or a total consideration of just under $6.5 million. The sale was made "to fund impending tax and financial obligations."
Dividends.
Suncorp Group Ltd (ASX: SUN) shares are trading ex-dividend this morning for the insurance and banking giant's 8 cents per share special dividend. Elsewhere, shareholders of Amcor Limited (ASX: AMC) will be paid the packaging company's 29.8 cents per share unfranked interim dividend later today.
