Wall St closed higher overnight as investors await the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision. The Dow Jones rose 0.18%, the S&P500 rallied 0.26% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq ended the trading session 0.35% in the green.

Over in Europe, markets closed lower as traders react to initial results from the EU Parliament elections. The STOXX600 closed 0.27% lower with losses led by food and beverage stocks which fell 1.27%. Germany’s DAX fell 0.34%, the French CAC lost 1.35% and over in the UK the FTSE 100 ended Monday’s trading session 0.2% in the red.

Locally, the ASX200 was closed yesterday for the King’s birthday public holiday, however on Friday the ASX200 rose nearly half a percent higher with all but one major sectors trading higher. Gains were led by the consumer discretionary and the materials sectors which rose 1.19% and 0.76% respectively.

What to watch today:

• The Australian share market is set to open lower, with the SPI futures predicting a fall of 0.42% at market open this morning.
• On the commodities front this morning,
  • Oil is trading 3.57% higher at 78 US dollars and 23 cents a barrel, with the significant rise fuelled by expectations of increased summer fuel demand.
  • Gold is trading 0.78% higher at 2310 US dollars an ounce as traders awaits the upcoming monetary policy decision.
  • And iron ore is trading 0.02% lower at 108 US dollars and 48 cents a tonne.

Trading Idea:

• Trading Central has identified a bullish signal on Adairs Limited (ASX:ADH), indicating that the stock price may rise from the close of $1.74 to the range of $2.50-$2.65 on a pattern formed over 52 days, according to the standard principles of technical analysis.