Markets expected to make up for losses

The Australian sharemarket is tipped to rise slightly at its open, reversing Friday’s losses on the back of firm performance on Wall Street and in Europe.

The ASX200 futures saw a 20-point decline on Friday ahead of an expected weakness on Wall Street that never really eventuated, AMP Capital’s chief economist Shane Oliver said yesterday.

Eurozone shares and the Dow Jones both dropped slightly – but did not tumble as far as expectations while the S&P500 had virtually no movement on Friday.

‘‘We had a 20-point drop but I expect we’ll see a small rise at the open by about 15 points, not a lot to get too excited about,’’ Oliver said.

He expected to see a fall in consumer confidence when Westpac releases its January figures on Wednesday.

Chinese export and import numbers, a strong indicator of the global economy, are expected to show slight softening.

This week’s US data is expected to be ‘‘mixed’’ with retail figures for December showing a slight rise but housing figures will be soft.

The US federal government shutdown has likely had no impact on investors as yet, Oliver said, but it could if the stalemate continues.

It signals the US government is too dysfunctional to easily raise the debt limit – an issue it must face some time after March.