Markets Live: ASX soars high in early trade

10:45am

The S&P/ASX 200 has soared in the last few minutes, trading up 36 points to 5865.

The banks and miners are doing most of the work this morning with BHP Billiton adding 7.1 points to the index.

10:18am

The market has responded to Syrian strikes over the weekend with the S&P/ASX 200 jumping up 10 points to 5838.

The miners are leading the way this morning with the banks also helping the index climb.

South32 is up 4 per cent this morning.

10:01am

It certainly seems that President Trump's decision to conduct targeted bombings in Syria will be a big influence on the market this week.

A lot happened in between the world finding out about the chemical attacks in Syria and Washington's eventual response.

Read the full story .

9:41am

Here's what has happened before the open this morning:

SPI futures down 6 points or 0.1% to 5810

AUD flat at 77.66 US cents

On Wall St: Dow -0.5%, S&P 500 -0.3%, Nasdaq -0.5%

In New York, BHP +1.3% Rio +0.8%

In Europe: Stoxx 50 +0.1%, FTSE +0.1%, CAC +0.1%, DAX +0.2%

Spot gold +0.8% to $US1346.20 an ounce

Brent crude +0.8% to $US72.58 a barrel

US oil +0.5% to $US67.39 a barrel

Iron ore +0.8% to $US64.96 a tonne

Dalian iron ore flat at 450 yuan

LME aluminium -1.7% to $US2285 a tonne

Aluminium touched six-year high on Friday

LME copper +0.1% to $US6830 a tonne

10-year bond yield: US 2.83%, Germany 0.51%, Australia 2.73%

9:19am

SPONSORED POST:

As last trading week came to a close in North America, there remained a question as to whether risk positions should be held over the weekend.

On Saturday, news broke that France, the United States, and Britain conducted "precision strikes" on Syria.

The heightening of new geopolitical developments may cloud the data releases from the week ahead that included RBA minutes, Federal Reserve speakers, Bank of Canada's Rate announcement, and a heavy Chinese economic calendar that includes GDP, industrial production, retail sales and fixed asset data.

The difficulty for markets tends not to be pricing risk, but rather not knowing when risk needs to be priced as geopolitical concerns put traders and investors at the whim of various headlines, and not the economic calendar where we're more comfortable.