INVESTORS might be blessed with a positive first day's trading for 2011 thanks to strong demand for commodities in offshore trade and gains made in Asia.
Commsec chief economist Craig James said a solid session for resources on the final session of 2010 should underpin the local market on Tuesday.
On Friday, benchmark oil for February delivery rose $US1.54 to end the year at $US91.38 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Gold futures for February settled up 1.1 per cent at $US1421.10.
"The oil price was up, the gold price was up," Mr James said yesterday. "If that continues through later tonight then certainly there will be good reason for investors to embrace our market.
"All commodity prices were higher on Friday."
The S&P/ASX200 closed down 0.91 per cent on Friday to end 2.6 per cent lower for 2010 and the All Ordinaries index fell 0.81 per cent on Friday to finish 0.7 per cent lower over the year.
"Given our market sold off due to profit taking on Friday, you would expect it to bounce back," Mr James said. "There was no real reason for our market to be down so heavily (on Friday).
"It just gets down to the year-end book activity squaring and profit taking."
The Australian dollar was still gaining ground at US102.09, just below the record high of US102.53 during New York trade on December 31.
Many share markets around the world were closed yesterday for the New Year's Day public holiday.
Asian markets open on the first trading day of 2011 were broadly higher.
Qantas is expected to announce this week the return of its A380 fleet to the trans-Pacific run.
The Australia-Los Angeles route has been off-limits for the big jets since engine maker Rolls-Royce ruled that its Trent 900 engines could operate only at reduced thrust after a mid-air engine explosion on November 4. AAP
