Gillian Bowen

So that's the podcast and also videos for ComSec TV, which is our YouTube channel, if you haven't checked that out.

As for today, our team is monitoring developments on the local trading session.

So please join Stephen Daglian and Laura Bezzarati for the ComSec Market Update podcast this afternoon.

I'm Gillian Bowen.

And I'm James Gruber.

Have a great weekend.

So it's the start of a new week and the status of the Middle East war is again as clear as mud.

As usual, we look to social media to see the latest from Donald Trump.

He's recently posted that US representatives would arrive in Pakistan on Monday evening for negotiations, again threatening new strikes unless Iran accepts his terms.

While Iran's state news agency has reported Sunday night their time,

that Iran has rejected new peace talks with the US, with the ongoing naval blockade being among the reasons.

Now, the two-week ceasefire was announced on April 8, so they've got about a day to make progress before that ends.

So US futures open shortly, and it'll be interesting to see the reaction to what's unfolded over the weekend after markets closed.

As for the Aussie share market, the ASX 200 futures

when they were last trading, were pointing to a 0.9% gain at the open this morning off the back of Wall Street's rally.

But that was before the Strait of Hormuz was closed again and this latest uncertainty on the Middle East conflict.

On Friday, as a reminder, the ASX 200 snapped a three-week winning streak.

down 0.15% for the week.

So having a look at currencies, they were mixed against the US dollar.

The Aussie dollar was 0.1% higher to 71.70 US cents.