Over in Wall St on Friday markets closed higher to end the week following a losing month for the major averages. The Dow Jones gained 1.39%, the S&P 500 jumped 1.59% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose by 1.63%.

Over in Europe, the STOXX600 and Germany’s DAX closed flat on Friday, with the French CAC rising 0.1% and over in the UK, the FTSE 100 ended 0.61% higher by market close on Friday.

Locally on Friday, the ASX200 fell 1.16% with all but one major sector closing in the red. Losses were led by the information technology and materials sectors which fell 2.86% and 2.47% respectively. This was offset by the communication services sector which rose by 0.24% by the closing bell.

What to watch today:

• The Australian share market is set to open higher, with the SPI futures suggesting a rise of 0.59% at market open.
• On the commodities front this morning,
   
  • Oil is trading 0.84% lower at 69 US dollars and 76 cents a barrel, marking the first monthly decline since November over geopolitical tensions. 
  • Gold is trading 0.65% lower at 2856 US dollars an ounce, and iron ore is trading 0.16% lower at 106 US dollars and 90 cents a tonne.

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter maintains a speculative buy rating on Aeris Resources (ASX:AIS) and has a 12-month price target of $0.30. The speculative buy rating is maintained as AIS is a copper dominant producer with all its assets in Australia. It’s near-term outlook is highly leveraged to the copper price and increasing grades and production at the Tritton copper mine. Successful delivery offers significant upside and a strategically attractive asset in Tritton, hence the buy rating is maintained.
• Trading Central has identified a bearish signal in Goodman Group (ASX:GMG), indicating that the share price may fall from the close of $31.31 to the range of $23.25-$24.75, on a pattern formed over 212 days, according to the standard principles of technical analysis.