What you need2know:

• SPI futures down 6 points to 5494

• AUD at 93.76 US cents, 95.07 Japanese yen, 69.35 Euro cents and 54.91 British pence.

• On Wall St, S&P 500 -0.2%, Dow -0.3%, Nasdaq -0.2%

• In Europe, Euro Stoxx 50 -0.9%, FTSE -0.3%, CAC -0.7%, DAX -1%

• Spot gold rose $US1.31 to $US1312.19 an ounce

• Brent oil up 46 US cents to $US107.70 per barrel

What's on today

Australia: Speech by Reserve Bank of Australia governor Glenn Stevens, assistant governor Guy Debelle; Japan: industry activity; US: Consumer Price Index; Indonesia: election tally to be released.

Stocks to watch

While all the attention is on Healthscope's giant $2.5 billion initial public offering, junior training and labour hire company Ashley Services Group is quietly going about a listing of its own.

Intelligent Investor research director Nathan Bell wonders if Pacific Brands might be a takeover target in the light of recent retail consolidation, such as the takeover of David Jones.

Deutsche Bank has retained a "buy" recommendation on Asciano with a $7.10 a share target price.

Currencies

FXCM currency analyst, David de Ferranti, is neutral on the Aussie dollar this week as two key themes are likely to continue offering the Aussie guidance – policy expectations and risk appetite. On the risk appetite front, geopolitical turmoil carries the potential to put pressure on risk sensitive currencies like the Aussie.

The dollar index edged up 0.03 per cent at 80.555 after hitting a four-week high last Friday. The greenback was little changed against the yen at 101.36 yen with benchmark Treasury yields hovering at their lowest in over seven weeks.

The euro recovered against the US dollar despite a sell-off in European shares. It traded steady at $US1.3523, well above Friday's five-month low of $US1.3491. Support is seen at $US1.3460/80, an area that has provided a floor on several occasions in the past 10 months or so.

Commodities

World number-one platinum producer Anglo American Platinum is to sell a swathe of its most labour-intensive South African mines after a five-month strike shattered its hopes of ever making them profitable.

Russia's Severstal said it would sell two US steel plants for $US2.3 billion, withdrawing from the US market at a time of rising tension between Russia and the West and turning its focus to its domestic business.

China's biggest steel producing province of Hebei produced 15.47 million tonnes of crude steel in June, down 5.5 per cent on the month, data from China's National Bureau of Statistics showed, as financial problems in the sector continued.

United States

US stocks fell on Monday, though major indexes ended well off their lows, as investors remained cautious amid ongoing instability in Ukraine and Gaza.

Netflix's quarterly profit more than doubled, boosted by the addition of 1.12 million customers to its international movie and TV streaming services.

Allergan, which is fighting a hostile bid from Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, said it would cut 13 per cent of its workforce as part of a restructuring meant to boost profits over the next six years.

Europe

European shares fell as fighting erupted in eastern Ukraine, the first major eruption of violence there since a Malaysian airliner was shot down last week.

Peugeot's shares dropped 3.7 per cent after it said deliveries fell 25.8 per cent in Russia, 26.8 per cent in Latin America and 37.2 per cent in Africa and the Middle East.

The German economy probably stagnated in the second quarter in the face of political tensions abroad, the Bundesbank said, but chances are its recovery will not be held up for long by conflicts on the rim of Europe.

What happened yesterday

Australian shares snuck to a six-year high despite a mixed ­performance from the big banks and falls in the biggest miners.

Both the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index and the broader All Ordinaries Index added 0.2 per cent on Monday to 5539.9 points and 5528.7 points ­respectively, the benchmark's highest close since June 2008.