Australian share prices are poised to rise on Wednesday, ignoring signals from the United States where stock indexes finished lower in a choppy session.
The Australian Securities Exchange’s (ASX) main equities index should open 0.60% above the previous close when trading resumes at 10:00 am AEDT (11:00 pm GMT Tuesday).
The June futures contract of the ASX 200 index was trading 51 points over the previous settlement at 8,468 points at the time of writing.
CommSec Equity Market Strategist James Gruber said it was unclear why the ASX was expected to rise when Wall Street finished lower, but energy stocks could rise on higher oil prices.
“It’s slightly mysterious,” he said.
He did not expect the February consumer price index data due out at 11:30 am AEDT to have much impact on share prices if annual inflation came in around the consensus forecast of 3.9%.
Gruber said the data would not reflect the inflationary impact of the Middle East conflict, which would be seen in the March data to be issued in April.
The main Wall Street indexes dropped back on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT) in volatile trading as early session gains were lost due to a range of conflicting factors related to the United States war with Iran.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.2%, the S&P 500 gave up 0.4%, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.8%.
Investors responded to concerns about rising oil prices and hopes for a resolution of the conflict after U.S. President Trump claimed progress in talks as reports emerged that more American troops were headed to the Middle East.
Trump said his country was "in negotiations right now" with Iran, adding that “the other side, I can tell you, they’d like to make a deal”.
"Stocks are trying to find their footing as investors are keeping one eye on social media and the other eye on every headline. We're very short-term oriented," Private Wealth Chief Market Strategist Carol Schleif was quoted saying in a Reuters article.
The ASX 200 had ended 0.2% higher on Tuesday with four of the index’s 11 sectors finishing up but off their earlier peaks as hopes around a de-escalation in Middle East tensions faded.
In fixed interest markets, Australian Government bond yields fell as two year rates eased 1.35% to 4.667% and 10 year rates lost 0.99% to 5.009% at the time of writing.
