On Friday the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) finished the week on a positive note with a gain of almost 0.5% to 6,167.3 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 start the week on a positive note. Current futures contracts are pointing to the market opening 8 points or 0.1% higher on Monday. This follows a positive finish to week on Wall Street which saw the Dow Jones rise 0.7%, the S&P 500 climb 0.65%, and the Nasdaq jump 0.9%.
Oil prices push higher.
Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT) and Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) shares could be on the rise today after oil prices pushed higher. According to Bloomberg, the WTI crude oil price climbed 0.5% to US$57.26 a barrel and the Brent crude oil price edged 0.1% higher to US$67.12 a barrel.
Appen full year results.
The Appen Ltd (ASX: APX) share price will be on watch this morning when it releases its full year results. Expectations are high for the global leader in the development of high-quality, human annotated datasets for machine learning and artificial intelligence. Late last year Appen provided underlying EBITDA guidance in the range of $62 million to $65 million. This will be an increase of between 120% and 131% on FY 2018's underlying EBITDA of $28.1 million.
Afterpay dodges a bullet.
The Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (ASX: APT) share price could push higher on Monday after the conclusion of the Senate inquiry into credit and financial services targeted at Australians at risk of financial hardship. According to a note out of Goldman Sachs, its analysts don't believe the recommendations will be an issue for the Afterpay platform.
Result releases.
It will be another busy day of result releases on Monday. Results are expected from childcare centre operator G8 Education Ltd (ASX: GEM), infection control specialist Nanosonics Ltd (ASX: NAN), plumbing parts company Reliance Worldwide Corporation Ltd (ASX: RWC), and insurance giant QBE Insurance Group Ltd (ASX: QBE).
