Australian share prices were likely to remain within a tight range in the coming week in the absence of new data as the market gears back up after the holiday break, dealers said. For the week ending January 2, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index gained 131.6 points to 3,713,8, a 3.7 percent increase since the market closed for the Christmas holidays on December 24.
CMC Markets Dominic Vaughan said volumes had been light in the holiday-interrupted week and trade would continue to be quiet in the coming days as investors enjoyed the holiday break. Vaughan said the market was likely to stay "roughly around where it is".
"There is maybe an outside risk that we retest... back around that 3,450 level. But the next couple of weeks, it's probably going to be trading in a 200-point range." With no central Reserve Bank of Australia meeting scheduled for January, Vaughan said it was unlikely that interest rates would move before February and that the biggest factors influencing the market could come from overseas. "All eyes will still be watching the US and any news out of China in terms of any decline in their economy," he said.