Updated July 20, 2017 08:57:40

Photo: Iron ore pushes back above $US70/tonne, a gain of 30 per cent since early last month. (Rio Tinto/Christian Sprogoe)

Fresh record highs on Wall Street, ASX futures on the rise and a surge in iron ore prices are all pointing towards a higher open for the Australian share market today.

The local currency shows no sign of slowing down either as it continues its week-long climb against the greenback, with an Australian dollar buying 79.5 US cents.

Record highs on Wall Street

Solid second-quarter earnings results were what boosted the US stock market overnight, erasing yesterday's negative sentiment over Senate Republicans' latest failed attempt to repeal Obamacare.

The Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended the trading day at their highest levels ever.

All sectors finished in positive territory, with the best performers being mining, energy and healthcare.

One keenly-watched stock was Morgan Stanley, which rose 3.3 per cent after the investment bank posted a bigger profit than was expected.

However, the biggest boost on the S&P and Nasdaq was pharmaceutical company Vertex, which surged 26.4 per cent to $US160.67 per share. This was after Vertex reported positive results for its cystic fibrosis treatments.

On the flip-side, technology giant IBM were a drag on the Dow - its share price was down 4.4 per cent after revealing its quarterly revenues were below expectations.

Wall Street was also boosted by some positive economic data released overnight.

Australia today

The local share market is expected to continue on from yesterday's surprise relief-rally led by the big four banks.

CBA, Westpac, ANZ and NAB shares surged after investors digested the prudential regulator's (APRA) directive for them to lift their capital requirements by around 1.5 per cent before 2020 (which was not as negative as initially thought).

The big banks dodge one bullet, with APRA's relatively modest capital increase, but the regulator still has mortgages in its sights.

Bullish trading is expected for local mining companies today after the price of iron lifted by 2 per cent overnight.

Australia's most sought-after commodity has shot past the $US70 mark.

This is a 31 per cent improvement over iron ore's one-year low of $US53.36 (in early June), but 26 per cent lower than its recent peak of $US94.86 per tonne (in late-February).

In terms of economic news, the Bureau of Statistics will release its jobs and unemployment figures for June.

The consensus, according to economists polled by Reuters, is that unemployment will rise to 5.6 per cent (up 0.1 per cent from May), despite the creation of 15,000 new jobs.

NAB's head of FX Strategy Ray Attrill agrees with the forecast for new jobs, but expects "unemployment to be unchanged" at 5.5 per cent.

Deutsche Bank strategist Ken Crompton is even more optimistic.

Mr Crompton expects "the recent robust employment outturns to extend further with a 20,000 gain in employment" and "the unemployment rate holding steady at 5.5 per cent".

Topics: stockmarket, currency, banking, company-news, money-and-monetary-policy, australia, european-union, united-states

First posted July 20, 2017 08:42:35