SPI futures were pointing to a 0.4 per cent lift, or 23 point jump, to 6034 points at the open on Monday.

Locally, Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe and Chris Kent, assistant governor (financial markets) will give separate speeches on Wednesday. While neither official is expected to alter the bank's positive yet cautious outlook, Mr Lowe and Mr Kent could reiterate that there will be no rush to lift interest rates here even as investors begin to position for them.

In contrast, the US Federal Reserve is expected to lift its key fed funds target by 25 basis points this week, in keeping with its plan to gradually lift rates. It would be the third increase this year, and fourth in the current cycle. Bolstering optimism about the US economic outlook was a 228,000 hiring spree last month.

There will also be a focus on Sweden's Riksbank, a speech from the Bank of Canada's governor and the final 2017 policy meetings of the European Central Bank and the Bank of England.

Australian shares are set to open higher on Monday, building on Friday's advance, after overseas markets closed up in the wake of the latest upbeat US jobs report. ASX futures were up 23 points over the weekend. The Australian dollar was steady, hovering near the US75?? mark. A raft of monthly Chinese data is scheduled for Thursday: industrial production, fixed asset investment and retail sales.

Besides the RBA, investors are most keen to see how often US Fed policymakers expect rates to rise in 2018 - based on an updated Dot Plot - and to hear chair Janet Yellen's perspective at her final post-meeting news conference early Thursday (AEDT). Dr Yellen is to retire from the board in the new year, as long as the Senate confirms Jerome Powell as her successor.

"Markets may be tempted to discount her comments somewhat for that reason, but we think her views well represent the centre of the FOMC [Federal Open Market Committee] going into 2018," TD Securities said. "In particular, if Yellen were to suggest that the FOMC has become even more concerned about persistently low inflation, that would be a dovish sign in our view."

Inflation outlook

What's not yet clear is what Fed policymakers make of the potential for stimulus from the Republican tax cut plan working its way through Congress. There is an emerging consensus that the Senate and House of Representatives will have a document ready for President Donald Trump to sign ahead of Christmas, and that there will be a modest bump to growth over the next one to two years.

The other focus will be on the Fed's outlook for inflation. Despite an extended hiring boom in the US, the pressure on employers to pay their workers more has failed to materialise.

In the November US jobs report, wages once again disappointed: average hourly earnings for all employees on private non-farm payrolls rose by 5 cents to $US26.55. Over the year, average hourly earnings have risen by 64 cents, or 2.5 per cent.

In the background, bitcoin continues to rocket with the direction mostly up, though it pared some of its recent surge over the weekend. The debate about cryptocurrencies appears set to ratchet higher as futures trading begins this week.

In a new report, Thomas Lee at Fundstrat Global Advisors said he retained his long-term bullish view on bitcoin, forecasting it at $US25,000 by the end of 2022. It closed at $US16,300 on Coinbase over the weekend.

Mr Lee said the introduction of bitcoin derivatives represented the first step towards creating ETFs and other more liquid instruments. Futures also would open the door to shorting the currency, which would likely increase selling and at the same time create "true price discovery".

At least in the short term though, Mr Lee said investors can "expect a lot of glitches and more controversy" as it represented new ground for bitcoin and a major change to its trading dynamics. "We would take advantage of any weakness to add to exposure," he concluded.