While global stock markets put in a mixed performance overnight, the Australian dollar lifted strongly against major currencies.
Australian dollar strengthens
The local currency surged (+2pc) against the British pound after the Bank of England voted to raise interest rates for the first time in more than 10 years.
The UK's official interest rate increased by 25 basis points, and are currently sitting at 0.5 per cent.
The Australian dollar also rose against the US dollar (+0.6pc), euro (+0.2pc), Japanese yen (+0.5pc) and New Zealand dollar (+0.2pc).
ASX futures have risen by 19 points, so the Australian share market could open higher today.
In economic news, the Bureau of Statistics will release its September retail sales figures.
Reuters-polled economists are expecting retail sales to rebound by 0.4 per cent in today's results, following a weak result in August (-0.6pc).
Corporate tax cuts and the new Fed chair
It was an unstable and choppy trading session on Wall Street as investors digested details of the tax reform bill put forward by House Republicans.
US corporate tax rates would be lowered from 35 to 20 per cent under this plan, which is one of President Donald Trump's key promises during his election campaign last year.
Tax brackets would also be reduced from seven to four, under the bill, and the President wants Congress to pass it by the Thanksgiving holiday, November 23.
This morning, Mr Trump announced his decision to pick Federal Reserve governor Jerome Powell to be the new chair of the US central bank.
Mr Powell will replace the incumbent Janet Yellen from early next year, and is considered a safe choice.
"He is seen as very much the continuity candidate, he hasn’t dissented in his time as a FRB [Federal Reserve Board] Governor, his thinking seen as very much allied to the status quo data-driven style at the Fed," said NAB's director of economics David de Garis.
The Dow Jones index closed 0.4 per cent higher at 23,516, after trading in and out of negative territory throughout the day.
As for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, both were trading lower for much of the day before closing flat in the final 20 minutes of trade.
Most S&P sectors finished in the red, with the worst performers being telecommunications (-1pc) and basic materials (-0.74pc).
However. the S&P index was kept afloat by the financials (+0.94pc) and industrials sectors (+0.52pc).
