The futures are suggesting the market will end the week on a positive note, up 0.5%, with the AUD continuing to rise against the greenback.

US stocks climbed to record highs on Thursday as the comeback in tech shares resumed, while the signing of the $1.9 billion-dollar COVID-19 stimulus deal gave sentiment a further boost. 

In other news, Johnson & Johnson’s one dose COVID-19 vaccine has been authorised by the European Union. 

What to watch today:

• It’s worth keeping an eye on Aussie tech shares like Afterpay (ASX:APT) and Appen (ASX:APX) given the tech rally overnight. 
• Travel and tourism stocks will continue to be in focus as the Federal Government added another 2 regional locations to its half price airfares scheme. This takes the total number of locations to 15. 
• Oil prices stormed higher overnight. The WTI crude oil and Brent crude oil price were both up about 2%. Energy producers like Santos (ASX:STO) and Woodside (ASX:WPL) could finish the week strongly. 
• Iron ore lifted 1.7%, gold and silver both fell about 0.2%, and copper rose 2.5%. 
• Finally, keep an eye on some of the most traded stocks from yesterday for our active trader desk. They were Pureprofile (ASX:PPL), Ioupay (ASX:IOU) and Digital Wine Ventures (ASX:DW8).   

Trading ideas:

• Acrow Formwork & Construction Services (ASX:ACF) remains a Bell Potter Buy with an increased price target of $0.44. 
• Bell Potter reiterated its Buy recommendation on Imdex (ASX:IMD) with an unchanged price target of $2.20. IMD was able to grow margins and earnings despite a benign exploration environment in H12021. 
• Separately – Nick Scali (ASX:NCK), Bingo Industries (ASX:BIN) and James Hardie (ASX:JHX) could be worth a look as they’re all giving off bullish charting signals according to Trading Central.