The Australian sharemarket is set to open lower after technology-driven declines on Wall Street and yesterday’s rate hike decision.
ASX 200 futures are down 0.7% to 8,794.00. The ASX closed 0.9% higher at 8,857.10 yesterday.
The Reserve Bank of Australia raised the cash rate by 25 basis points to 3.85% yesterday, with the Australian dollar rising to US$0.70 this morning.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 fell by 0.8%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased 0.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite shed 1.4%.
The S&P 500’s technology index sank 2.2% as investors rotated out of artificial intelligence-related stocks. Most Magnificent Seven stocks dipped, with Microsoft down 2.9%, Nvidia falling 2.8%, Meta shedding 2.1%, and Amazon dropping 1.8%.
AI software company Salesforce plunged 6.9%, while chipmakers AMD and Broadcom fell 1.7% and 3.3%. Australia's Atlassian, which is listed on the Nasdaq, also closed 7.7% lower.
The ASX technology index increased 1.6% yesterday, but is down 6% across the last five trading days.
Bitcoin prices dropped to a 16-month low, reaching a low point of US$72,885 overnight. Spot gold and spot silver rose 6% and 7% respectively, recovering from losses last week.
Australian two-year yields were up 0.09% to 4.279%, while 10-year yields climbed 0.06% to 4.855%.
