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Positive trade talks between China and the U.S. boosted investor sentiment on Wall Street on Monday, leading to a positive finish across the major averages. The S&P500 climbed 0.5% to a fresh record high over 6000 points for the first time while the Nasdaq added 0.9% to also hit a fresh record close and the Dow Jones ended the day up 0.1%. U.S. and Chinese officials met for a second day with progress on the trade front said to be moving well on top of talks around the sale of Chinese owned social media company, TikTok.

In Europe overnight markets closed mostly higher as investors welcome trade negotiation progress between the U.S. and China. The STOXX600 rose 0.4%, Germany’s DAX added 0.2%, the French CAC climbed 1% and, in the UK, the FTSE100 ended the day down 0.1%.

Across the Asia region on Monday markets closed mixed with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rising 0.23%, while China’s CSI index gained 0.24%, South Korea’s Kospi index rose to a fresh record high with a gain of 0.35%, and Japan’s Nikkei was closed for a holiday.

Locally on Monday the ASX200 posted a 0.13% loss to start the new trading week lower.

The losses extended from last week as investors overlooked the widely expected US rate cut announcement next week and instead sold out of healthcare and gold mining stocks to start the new trading week lower.

The most traded stocks by Bell Direct clients yesterday were led by Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN), CSL (ASX:CSL) and Westpac (ASX:WBC).

What to watch today:

• On the commodities front this morning, oil is trading 1.2% higher at US$63.31/barrel, gold is up a further 1.07% at US$3681/ounce and iron ore is trading 0.11% lower at US$105.31/tonne.
• The Aussie dollar has strengthened against the greenback to buy 66.73 U.S. cents, 98.32 Japanese yen, 49.04 British pence and 1 New Zealand dollar and 12 cents.
• Ahead of Tuesday’s trading session here in Australia the SPI futures are anticipating the ASX will open the day up almost half a %.

Trading ideas:

• Trading Central has identified a bullish signal on Adairs (ASX:ADH) following the formation of a pattern over a period of 12-days which is roughly the same amount of time the share price may rise from the close of $2.62 to the range of $3.15-$3.30 according to standard principles of technical analysis.
• And Trading Central has identified a bearish signal on The A2 Milk Company (ASX:A2M) following the formation of a pattern over a period of 7-days which is roughly the same amount of time the share price may fall from the close of $9.10 to the range of $8.30 to $8.45 according to standard principles of technical analysis.