Markets to open solid

A SOLID opening is expected on the local markets today to reflect strong gains in the US market on Friday after Apple shares soared.

“It should be quite a solid opening. Wall Street rallied on Friday with tech stocks, in particular Apple,” AMP Capital’s chief economist Dr Shane Oliver said.

“The broader market was also pretty strong, there were fairly good gains in general.”

Dr Oliver said US jobs growth had accelerated in October after hurricane-related disruptions in September, while unemployment fell.

The benchmark ASX 200 index finished Friday up 0.48 per cent at 5959.9 points with consumer staples the only weak point.