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Australian shares closed at a one month high on Friday with gains mostly in the Financial and Technology sectors.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones closed at a record for the first time since mid- August, as investors moved out of Tech stocks and into blue chips. The S&P500 edged slightly lower, down 0.1%, while the Nasdaq fell 0.8%, after disappointing earnings reports from Intel and Snap.

This morning, the SPI futures are suggesting the ASX200 will rise 0.4% at the open, extending last weeks advance.

What to watch today:

• Companies set to go ex-dividend today include Clover Corporation (ASX:CLV), Jupiter Mines (ASX:JMS) and New Hope Corporation (ASX:NHC).
• ASX listed buy now pay later stocks – the RBA has reviewed Retail Payments Regulations and have suggested modifying the BNPL providers ‘no-surcharge’ rule. Some BNPL stocks that may be affected include Afterpay (ASX:APT), Zip (ASX:Z1P), and Splitit (ASX:SPT).
• The oil price is trading 1.5% higher at US$83 a barrel.
• Gold is higher, however trimmed early gains to trade as the US dollar cut losses now that the Fed is ready to begin tapering.
• Coal is trading 15% below its all-time high and the seaborne iron ore price is trading lower at US$122. 

Trading ideas:

• Bell Potter maintain their BUY rating on Pantoro Limited (ASX:PNR) with an 11% higher price target of $0.30 (previously $0.27), after a strong quarter report. PNR last closed at $0.21, implying 42.9% share price growth in the year.
• And bullish charting signals have been identified in Frontier Digital Ventures (ASX:FDV), Laybuy Group Holdings (ASX:LBY) and Prescient Therapeutics (ASX:PTX), according to Trading Central.