The ripples of a favourable court ruling in the United States are being positively felt in Australia, with shares set to end a four-day losing streak when trading begins on Thursday.
A rise in the share price of Google search engine parent Alphabet, which hoisted two of the three main U.S. stock indices overnight, created a positive tone on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).
Futures trading indicates the S&P/ASX index will open 0.35% higher at 10 am AEST (12 am GMT Wednesday) with the September share price index (SPI) contract trading 31 points above the previous settlement at 8,756 points, at the time of writing.
This will not be enough to erase the losses from Wednesday when the main ASX price marker fell by more in a single day than since April due to the dampening impact of higher bond yields.
U.S. share markets ended mixed on Wednesday (Thursday AEST) with the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 rising as a U.S. judge’s ruling against breaking up Alphabet boosted its share price, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended lower.
The Dow Jones slipped 0.1%, the S&P 500 gained 0.5% and the Nasdaq added 1%.
Shares of Apple also gained from the court ruling, which protected payments to the iPhone maker from Google.
"Google and Apple got a lifeline ... They won the sweepstakes," Longbow Asset Management Chief Executive Officer Jake Dollarhide was quoted by Reuters as saying in an in an article.
The Australian market had ended 1.8% lower at a two-week low of 8,738.80 on Wednesday, pushing out the number of down days to four.
Scheduled today are Australian household spending and international trade data, a speech by Reserve Bank of Australia Deputy Governor Andrew Hauser and ex-dividend trading by BHP (ASX: BHP), Newmont Corporation (ASX: NEM) and TPG Telecom Limited (ASX: TPG).
In fixed interest markets, Australian Government bond yields tracked their American counterparts lower, with two-year rates falling 0.50% to 3.403% and 10-year rates dropping 0.16% to 4.376%.
