During his appearances last week, central bank governor Philip Lowe made it crystal clear that interest rates will not be rising anytime soon, possibly not until 2024, if not later.

While borrowers will be happy, savers may be less so.

The Reserve Bank kept the cash rate and other policy settings at a record low 0.1 per cent at its monthly board meeting, as well as announcing that it was extending its bond buying program to keep market interest rates and borrowing rates low.

Dr Lowe said Australia has done better than most other countries on both the health and economic fronts, while vaccines hold out the prospect of restrictions being eased and many activities returning close to their pre-pandemic normal.

But Dr Lowe also indicated that full employment and decent wage rises are still a long way off.

The weekly ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence survey will capture the response to Dr Lowe's thoughts when it is released on Tuesday.

It's index - a pointer to future household spending - has now fully recovered from a jittery start to the year caused by the snap COVID-19 lockdowns in parts of NSW and Victoria either side of Christmas.

The monthly National Australia Bank business survey on Tuesday is also expected to see a rebound in confidence as these COVID scares subsided, providing a positive outlook for hiring and investing.

The monthly Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment survey is released on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Australian shares look set to extend last week's gains at Monday's opening as key US indices advanced further.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3 per cent to 31,148.24, the S&P 500 gained 0.39 per cent at 3,886.83 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.57 per cent to 13,856.30.

These gains came despite a smaller-than-expected rebound in the US labour market which saw a 49,000 increase in non-farm payrolls in January and job losses in manufacturing and construction.

But it highlighted the need for more government aid to shore up the economy.

US President Joe Biden and his Democrats in Congress moved ahead with their $US1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package and a budget plan that will allow them to push it through in the coming weeks without Republican support.

Australian share futures were five points higher or 0.07 per cent at 6778 in response to the US move.

On Friday the local market posted its best performance in 13 weeks.

The S&P/ASX200 benchmark index closed 1.11 per cent up at to 6840.5 and gained 3.53 per cent on the week in response to the Reserve Bank statements.

The local company reporting season picks up this week.

AMP Capital expects earnings to rebound in 2020/21 by 25 per cent after the pandemic-driven 24 per cent plunge last financial year.

Australian Associated Press