Australian market poised to open higher following a strong performance on Wall Street Friday night bolstered by strong earnings from tech stocks.

The SPI futures contract was up 55 points at 5,5378.

In local economic news, the CommSec State of the States report comes out.

In equities space, Ten Network Holdings is expected to post full year results, Stockland is slated to give a first quarter update, while AusNet Services, Murray Goulburn Co-operative and Argo Investments have their annual general meetings.

Key Numbers:

-SPI up 55 points at 5378

-AUD at 72.05 US cents

-Dow Jones +0.9%, S&P500 +1.1%, Nasdaq +2.27%

-FTSE100 +1.06%, CAC +2.53%, DAX +2.88%

-Spot gold down 0.1% at $US1164.45 an ounce

-Brent oil down 0.19% at $US47.99 a barrel

-Iron ore down 1.1% at $US51.62 a tonne

What’s on today:

Australia CommSec state of the states.

China’s Fifth Plenum -The Chinese Communist Party will discuss the nation’s economic and social policies for the next five years at its Fifth Plenum in Beijing.

Stocks in focus:

Bank investors should expect ‘less return': The top financial regulator has suggested shareholders in banks may need to lower their expectations for returns as banks become less risky.

NAB is due to report full year numbers on October 28, ANZ is due to release its full year numbers on October 29, and Westpac is rounding out the three majors by releasing its (audited) full year numbers on November 2. Evan Lucas, market strategist at IG, says that in the past year, several major events have taken place in the Australian economic landscape as well as the international landscape that should be taken into consideration when assessing the banks:

Australian house prices have increased 10.2 per cent year-on-year and Sydney has increased 21.5 per cent over the same period

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has cut interest rates twice for a 50 basis point decline in the cash rate

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