Shares in Australia are expected to open lower on Friday after Wall Street indexes fell sharply overnight, with corporate profits continuing to drive the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).
The ASX 200 index should start about 0.9% below the previous finish on the basis of trading in the March futures contract, which was last quoted just 78 points lower at 8,895 points.
Burrell Stockbroking wealth adviser Adam Dight said bank results had been the highlight of the ASX reporting season to date, in which investors were learning about results for the first time in six months.
“That's the thing with half-yearly reporting. All the analyst expectations are 65 days old. Nothing's been updated since December 10,” Dight said.
“It's a bit of a Forrest Gump moment, reporting season is like a box of chocolates.”
The tone was set in New York, where benchmarks finished weaker on Thursday (Friday AEDT) as the rotation out of technology shares continued due to worries about artificial intelligence (AI) disruption.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.3%, the S&P 500 shed 1.6%, and the Nasdaq Composite dived 2% as the sell-down of growth stocks was stepped up.
"The broader narrative within the market is what sectors and industries can increase productivity from AI investments, and on the flip side, what industries are going to be disrupted by AI," GuideStone Funds Primary Investment Analyst Jack Herr was quoted in a Reuters story as saying.
"We see this as a 'prove it' year for AI. We need to start seeing some return on investments."
The Australian market had finished up on Thursday as a better-than-expected result from ANZ boosted the banking sector, with the ASX 200 rising 0.3% to 9,043.5 points.
Stocks in focus include those reporting today, such as Westpac Banking Corporation (ASX: WBC), Cochlear (ASX: COH), GQG Partners Inc. (ASX: GQG), BWP Trust / BWP Property Group (ASX: BWP), Nick Scali (ASX: NCK) and Civmec (ASX: CVL).
In fixed interest markets, Australian Government bond yields fell, with two-year rates down 0.47% to 4.228% and 10 year rates off by 0.75% to 4.747%.
