Declines across the US and Europe will provide a negative lead in for the Australian share market on Monday.

Australian markets are also expected to be affected by Monday’s public holiday in Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT.

CommSec chief economist Craig James says its no surprise that after the losses in the US, there would be similar declines in our own market on Monday.

‘US investors are trying to mull up the state of the economy – job figures were much weaker than expected but the question is whether this is just a one off type development. And housing stats were much firmer than expected,’ he told AAP.

‘So that data was more mixed than anything.’

 

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Despite the US dollar weakening against all other currencies, the Australian dollar was firmer.

Rather than being about 70 cents, the Australian dollar was at 70.5 cents.

He said mining stocks were all down, including the oil price (down 59 cents), nickel (down 1.2 %) and iron ore ($2.20 lower).

‘The only saving grace is the gold price, up over $13 an ounce,’ he said.

‘Gold stocks may do okay on Monday but some of the other mining and energy stocks may face headwinds – the higher Australian dollar doesn’t help.’

He said investors could expect Monday to be a little softer in terms of volume, and potentially, growth because of the public holiday.

He said because of that, no major economic data had been released.

But what everyone is waiting for is a development in the US-China trade dispute.

‘Without new information, we are effectively in a holding pattern.’