However, Gold gained for a second consecutive week as rising inflation and geopolitical risks lifted its safe-haven appeal.

With interest rates hikes expected soon we expect many sectors to continue to struggle in the near future, with more pains for holders of Buy Now Pay Later stocks.

The endorsement of the anti- Israel boycott by the internationally-proscribed terrorist group Hamas highlights the sinister nature of the BDS campaign.

There is a concern that national spending in Australia has declined to lockdown levels with people in Sydney and Melbourne dragging the national spending as surging coronavirus cases keep them from going out.

Moving ahead there are a few releases to watch out for in the lead up to Christmas with the Reserve Bank Board minutes to be released on Tuesday, weekly payroll jobs and wages on Wednesday and private sector credit on Thursday.

Your efforts have helped the country that we all love and care about respond so magnificently to this pandemic.

Looking ahead for the Australian dollar the unemployment data on Thursday and business and consumer confidence numbers early in the week will be setting the tone for rest of the week.

While it is largely expected the RBA will make no changes to its monetary policy, the traders will be looking forward to RBA’s commentary surrounding bond yields and purchases as that would be pivotal for interest rates.

Investors are currently in shoot first and asking questions later until more is known about the new variant, the investors are also nervous about whether we will even get a Christmas rally.

“At a time when the fierce competition in the key home loan market is hurting the banks' margins substantially, one can expect the financial sector to remain under pressure for quite some time.”