The ASX 200 is set to rise at the opening bell this morning, up 0.5% in futures, as the Aussie bourse prepares to test the lofty 8,500 point mark amid its continuing bull run.

It’s been winning runs across the world in recent weeks, with stocks on Wall Street closing higher on Friday – Dow Jones in particular had a stellar end to the week, inking another record high after it closed doors.

The S&P 500 also lifted 0.3% to erase all its losses from the five days before.

One of the only things that had kept U.S. investors waiting for any huge moves was Trump’s Treasury secretary pick – a wait he ended late on Friday by naming billionaire Scott Bessent.

Back home, Energy shares across the board are already champing at the bit and should continue strong performances after Ukraine-Russia tensions continued to escalate; investors on HotCopper have already been watching Woodside Energy (ASX:WDS) and Whitehaven Coal (ASX:WHC) early on Monday morning.

SmartPay Holdings Limited (ASX:SMP) has reported an 8% increase in revenue, up to $50.8 million for the first half of the financial year through to September.

Pro Medicus (ASX:PME), Regal Partners (ASX:RPL), and Southern Cross Media (ASX:SXL) are hosting AGMs – the latter is tipped to cop a grilling.

The Aussie bourse will also ring the bell on a newcomer today – the third debutant in as many trading days – with data services provider Cuscal Limited listing under ticker code CCL at 12pm Sydney time. The payments operator is aiming to rise $336.8 million; the company will open at $2.50 a share today.

Looking at forex, the Aussie dollar is buying 65.3 US cents.

To commodities, which are in the greenback,

• Iron Ore has slid 0.07% to $101.95 a tonne in Singapore,
• Brent Crude is trading at $75.17,
• Gold is trading at $2,715 per ounce, and, 
• US natgas futures slumped 6.29% to sell at $3.12 per gigajoule.

That’s Market Open, I’m Isaac McIntyre, stick with us for HotCopper’s Market Update.