James Hardie (2.6 per cent) was among the industrial sector’s best performers, while packaging giant Amcor (2.6 per cent) also rose.

Embattled IT firm WiseTech saw its stock gain 2.8 per cent following a horror week, where it slashed its earnings forecasts following months of controversy surrounding its founder Richard White. NextDC was also up 0.6 per cent.

EML Payments soared 26.3 per cent after announcing it had lifted its underlying earnings by 46 per cent in the first quarter of the financial year. Webjet’s stock was down 0.6 per cent after the travel company released underwhelming half-year results.

The soft start to the trading session came despite stocks ending higher on Wall Street, with those benefiting the most from lower interest rates and a stronger US economy leading the way.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.3 per cent to pull closer to its all-time high set two weeks ago. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1 per cent to its own record set on Friday, while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.3 per cent.

Oil prices fell more than $US2 per barrel after reports that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to the terms of a deal to end the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, citing officials from Israel, Lebanon, the US and France. Spot gold fell 3.3 per cent to $US2626.17 an ounce at 6.32am AEDT.

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Treasury yields also eased in the bond market amid what some analysts called a “Bessent bounce” after President-elect Donald Trump said he wants Scott Bessent, a hedge fund manager, to be his Treasury Secretary.

Bessent has argued for reducing the US government’s deficit, which is how much more it spends than it takes in through taxes and other revenue. Such an approach could soothe worries on Wall Street that Trump’s policies may lead to a much bigger deficit, which in turn would put upward pressure on Treasury yields.

After climbing above 4.44 per cent immediately after Trump’s election, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell back to 4.26 per cent Monday, down from 4.41 per cent late on Friday. That’s a notable move, and lower yields make it cheaper for all kinds of companies and households to borrow money. They also give a boost to prices for stocks and other investments.

The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks the market’s expectations for what the Federal Reserve will do with overnight interest rates, also eased sharply.

The Fed began cutting its main interest rate just a couple of months ago from a two-decade high, hoping to keep the job market humming after bringing inflation nearly all the way down to its 2 per cent target. But immediately after Trump’s victory, traders had reduced bets for how many cuts the Fed may deliver next year. They were worried Trump’s preference for lower tax rates and higher spending on the border would balloon the national debt.

A report coming on Wednesday could influence how much the Fed may cut rates. Economists expect it to show that an underlying inflation trend the Fed prefers to use accelerated to 2.8 per cent last month from 2.7 per cent in September. Higher inflation would make the Fed more reluctant to cut rates as deeply or as quickly as it would otherwise.

In other international markets, indexes moved modestly across much of Europe after finishing mixed in Asia.

In the crypto market, bitcoin was trading below $US95,000 after threatening to hit $US100,000 late last week for the first time.