Australia

Australian shares are set to open higher, after US stocks rose on rate-cut expectations.

ASX futures were up 0.19% or 16 points as of 8:00am on Monday, suggesting a higher open.

US stock indexes rose as investors priced around 50% odds that the Fed might start its easing cycle with a higher-than-usual 50-basis-point interest rate cut on Wednesday, according to CME data.

All sectors in the S&P 500 advanced. Warner Bros. Discovery is the index's top gainer, rising 11% after it renewed its distribution deal with Charter Communications ahead of schedule.

Nasdaq rose 6% last week after a 0.7% gain Friday, to 17,584. The S&P 500 gained 4% for the week and 0.5% for the day to 5,626, and the DJIA rose 2.6% in the week and 0.7% Friday, to 41,394.

In commodity markets, Brent crude oil was down 0.5% to US$71.61 a barrel, while gold was up 0.8% to US$2,577.70.

The Australian dollar was at 67.02 US cents.

Asia

Chinese shares closed lower. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.5% to 2,704.09, and the Shenzhen Composite Index fell 1.1% to 1,476.26.

Hong Kong shares ended higher. The benchmark Hang Seng Index rose 0.7% to 17,369.09.

Japanese shares closed lower. The Nikkei Stock Average dropeed 0.7% to 36,581.76.

India shares ended lower. The BSE SENSEX lost 0.1% to 82,890.94.

Europe

Stocks in the U.K. finished higher. The FTSE 100 Index added 0.4% to 8,273.09.

In Europe, shares closed higher. Germany's DAX rose 1.0% to 18,699.40, and France's CAC 40 gained 0.4% to 7,465.25.

North America

U.S. stocks ended higher. The DJIA added 0.7% to 41,393.78, the S&P 500 increased 0.5% to 5,626.02, and the Nasdaq rose 0.7% to 17,683.98.

Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were Warner Bros. Discovery Inc, surging 10.84%, Etsy Inc jumped 7.56%, and Align Technology Inc lifted 6.50%.

The biggest decliners were Adobe Inc which dropped 8.48%, Garmin Ltd fell 5.53%, and Boeing Co lost 3.72%.