“There are two things really propelling markets higher right now: the idea that central banks are signalling they’re nearing the end of the rate hiking cycle,” Craig said, pointing to the US Federal Reserve’s next meeting in January and the Reserve Bank’s Tuesday rate call.

“The second thing is the easing of restrictions in China towards COVID … that’s created positive news.”

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Energy and materials stocks were responsible for pulling the bourse into the green, with these sectors finishing the day up 1.5 per cent and 1.4 per cent respectively, as global concerns about energy pushed up the oil price.

All eyes will be on the RBA on Tuesday, with many market watchers already pricing in rate hike of 25 basis points. RBA governor Philip Lowe’s statement will be closely read for indications of future price hikes, Craig added.

“I think the importance of meeting will be around the messaging they put forward in terms of: should the market expect more?” he said. “If the [inflation] data’s softer, don’t expect more.”

More locally, IGA operator Metcash finished in the green despite sinking earlier in the day as its strong half-year results were offset by inflation headwinds. The retailer finished the day up 0.2 per cent to $4.24.

Going into 2023, Metcash CEO Doug Jones signalled confidence in its customer base. “I think the things that underpin the improvements in competitiveness and relevance is fundamentally the quality of the stores, the quality of the offer, pricing, range. Those remain intact, so we should expect to take some confidence into the second half of the year, and we certainly do.”

After a tentative morning in the green, the big four banks plunged into negative territory, with NAB decreasing by 0.4 per cent and ANZ down by 0.3 per cent.

Inflation worries weighed on Wall Street on Friday, leaving major indexes mixed after a report showed wages for US workers are accelerating, which is good news for them but could feed into even higher inflation for the nation.

The S&P 500 ended 0.1 per cent lower on Friday after having been down as much as 1.2 per cent earlier in the day. The Nasdaq composite also trimmed its deficit, falling 0.2 per cent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out a 0.1 per cent gain. The indexes all notched gains for the week.

Across the US economy, employers added 263,000 jobs last month. That beat economists’ forecasts for 200,000, while the unemployment rate held steady at 3.7 per cent. Many Americans also continue to stay entirely out of the job market, with a larger percentage of people either not working or looking for work than before the pandemic, which could increase the pressure on employers to raise wages.

Tweet of the day:

Quote of the day: “Our business is uniquely well-positioned to weather events like FTX,” Australian cryptocurrency exchange Swyftx CEO Alex Harper told staff as it laid off 40 per cent of its workforce.

“But as much as we might wish it, we do not exist in isolation from the market and that’s why we are acting fast and acting early by significantly reducing the size of our team.”

You may have missed: Your favourite bottle of bubbly may be harder to find than usual this year, with the country already in the midst of a mild shortage of popular champagne brands.

The likes of Moet, Veuve Clicquot, and Bollinger are flying off the shelves in the lead-up to both Christmas and New Year as demand soars and supply chain and logistical issues impact the availability of these highly sought-after brands.

With AP