Aust stocks set to open stronger

A strong session on Wall Street is tipped to push the Australian stock market into positive territory at the beginning of trade this morning.

CommSec chief economist Craig James says economic reforms in China announced over the weekend should also help lift the local market.

"It should be a mildly positive start," he said.

"The US markets finished at record highs and there were good gains in Europe as well."

US stocks hit fresh all-time highs after Federal Reserve chief nominee Janet Yellen bolstered expectations of the Fed keeping open the flow of easy money.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Friday gained 85.48 points (0.54 per cent) to close at 15,961.70 while the broad-based S&P 500 added 7.56 (0.42 per cent) to 1,798.18.

Mr James said the futures market was pointing to a gain on the local bourse of 10 points.

"That's eminently reasonable," he told AAP.

Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX200 index finished up 46.3 points, or 0.86%, at 5,401.7 points on Friday. The broader All Ordinaries index was up 44.2 points, or 0.83%, at 5,396.2 points.

Mr James was upbeat on China's promised reforms to loosen the Communist authorities' grip on the world's second-largest economy.

"They have tended to delight rather than disappoint analysts and commentators," he said.

"The indication is that they're (the Chinese government) committed to strong growth."

In the absence of key local data this week, Mr James said traders would be eyeing manufacturing numbers out of the US and Europe.

"That will give a good update about global economic growth when those readings come out on Thursday," he said.