If there was one area of concern, it was the big miners. I put forward the question last week: What would be an early sign that our market was capable of sustaining a break above resistance?

In my view, it would be a breakout in BHP Billiton (BHP) and Rio Tinto (RIO). Both are nearing their 2012 highs ($38.25 and $72.30 respectively), and if those can be overcome, there could be a surge to the upside.

BHP pushed above resistance last Thursday and Rio tested the 2012 high on the same day. But RIO could not break topside and actually registered a small "island reversal" on Friday. I continue to believe action in these two stocks will be the key to the broader market's ability to push significantly higher in the near term.

Now let's move on to global markets and assess whether there are any signs of weakness there. In the US, if we apply the SAR study to the S&P 500, there is no sell signal at this stage.

But the 21-week stochastic is overbought and it will only take marginal weakness to push it into sell mode. There is also some deterioration in the daily RSI, but no major sell signal at this stage.

The VIX and the US T-Bond/S&P 500 ratio remain below support - a push back above that support would be an early indication that risk in the equity market was shifting to the downside.

Elsewhere, as discussed in recent reports, some markets are stalling at significant resistance levels. Japan is the most notable of these. Others, such as the UK and Germany, are showing a slowdown in upward momentum. And if we apply the SAR study to Germany, Canada and Russia, there are short-term sell signals in place.

So, the answer to the second part of the question (Is the strength in Australia and the break of resistance reflected in other global equity markets?) is not clear cut, but I would have to say that Australia is, at this stage, presenting a more robust profile than most. But I remain of the view that now is not a low-risk time to increase exposure.

And, on a final note, two quick comments: one on the Banks/All Ords ratio and the other on gold.

The Banking sector outperformed the All Ords from mid-2011, but the ratio peaked in August 2012. It then trended sideways to lower on both a price and an accumulation basis.

I suggested in late January that "there is no real change in the trend at this stage … but I believe there is a high probability there will be a break to the upside, in favour of the banks, once again".

Banks have indeed outperformed and the ratio has broken above resistance. This implies continued outperformance. If we look at the Banks Accumulation versus the Materials Accumulation, the ratio is now at key resistance. At this stage, the odds favour a topside break.

As for gold, I spoke about some interesting developments in some of the gold stocks last week, but noted there was no sign of reversal in the gold price, and if anything, short-term risk was skewed to the downside.

Gold had a lousy week, falling by 3.4 per cent. This doesn't really come as a big surprise, given platinum was facing a formidable barrier.

The short-term action in gold is hard to interpret, but the gold stocks that were mentioned last week have not yet - with the exception of Kingsgate Consolidated (KCN) - broken key support. And if we look at the Philadelphia Gold & Silver index, the major support sits just below current levels.

Gold may have some more downside in the short term, but if the gold stocks and the Philadelphia Gold & Silver index hold above support, then we may be at a significant buying opportunity.

I said last week it was too early to get optimistic on the gold stocks, and I remain of that view, but we should *** still keep a close eye on the price action.