Markets Live: Banks lead ASX higher

Nickel has moved lower over the weekend as fears that Washington would impose further sanctions on Russia softened.

Sanctions against oligarch Oleg Deripaska were expected to be expanded to Norilsk Nickel where Deripaska is a shareholder but the market is indicating that this now seems unlikely.

Market watchers believe Norilsk could be protected from sanctions because it is the number one producer of palladium for automotive manufacturers.

North American and Latin American customers accounted for 34 per cent of Norilsk's palladium sales in 2016 and sanctions against the miner could cause collateral damage, hurting the US auto industry.

ANZ has fronted the royal commission this morning with the bank's chief risk officer for wealth and digital Kylie Rixon facing questions from senior counsel assisting Rowena Orr.

An ANZ Bank board committee was told in 2015 that one in 20 pieces of financial advice provided by its planners may not have been in the interests of customers, and "high risk" advisers were advising clients.

Macquarie has upgraded its recommendation for Challenger from "neutral" to "outperform" on the back of the company's third quarter assets under management, net flows and sales update.

The update showed Life net book growth of 5.2 per cent in the half was offset by Total Life sales which were down 13 per cent vs pcp.

A deeper analysis on the iSelect earnings downgrade and consequent share performance from Julia Lee, equities strategist at Bell Direct.

Checking back in with the market at midday, the S&P/ASX 200 index is up 16.7 points to 5,885.5, a move of 0.3 per cent.

All four of the major banks are up more than 0.6 per cent with Westpac the biggest mover of the group, up 0.8 per cent.

iSelect has shed more than half its share price in trading this morning following a huge earnings downgrade.

Investors had pushed the stock down more than 60 per cent to 38.5¢ from $1 this morning before it recovered slightly to be trading down 51 per cent at 49¢.

Woolworths faces renewed pressure over its pokies division with a $9 billion superannuation fund representing Victorian council employees on the cusp of considering whether to divest its stake in the supermarket giant on ethical investment grounds.

Victoria's 79 local councils are set to vote on whether to demand their industry super fund, Vision Super, divest its $150 million Woolworths shareholding in response to alleged widespread misconduct in the retailer's nationwide pokies division.

Nick Toscano has the full story here.

Speaking from Berlin, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has admitted making a political mistake in rejecting a royal commission into the banks for more than 18 months, taking responsibility for the call but insisting he was right to put a priority on new laws to protect customers.

In his first public response to last week's furore over the banks, the Prime Minister said commentators were right to say he would have had less "political grief" if he had acted sooner to launch the commission.

David Crowe has the full story here.

Anyone wanting to follow the day's proceedings at the royal commission can follow the AFR's live blog here.

ANZ, AMP and NAB are due to give evidence to the inquiry today.

The Australian market has defied expectations, advancing in early trade.

The S&P/ASX 200 index is up 15 points a growth of more than 0.2 per cent.