Australia’s share market is likely to ease back from its record peak on Wednesday after a mixed night on Wall Street where investors were unimpressed by economic data and corporate earnings.
The S&P/ASX 200 index is expected to open 0.8% lower based on future trading on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) ahead of a day devoid of significant scheduled events.
At the time of writing the September share price index contract was trading 66 points below the previous settlement at 8,545, more than erasing the gains of the previous day when the benchmark’s index closed at a new high.
A record finish by the Nasdaq Composite index was a high point of trading in New York on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST) as the other two major stock indices closed lower on a day that included inflation data and earnings from large banks.
The Nasdaq rose 0.2% to a record close, helped by a 4% surge in NVIDIA which inspired a surge in confidence about the technology sector when it said it hoped to resume deliveries of its H20 GPU computer chips to China soon.
However the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1% and the broader S&P 500 edged down 0.4%.
The market also digested data showing inflation starting to rise due to new tariffs, with U.S. consumer prices showing their biggest jump in five months in June.
The U.S. second quarter earnings season began with shares in JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and BlackRock falling after their results, leaving Citigroup to buck the trend with capital gains on the back of its profit performance.
"We'll get more concrete news, as we go through earnings, to see how companies are delivering the impact of higher tariffs," Commonwealth Financial Network Senior Investment Research Analyst Rob Swanke was quoted in a Reuters story as saying.
The Australian market had risen 0.7% to a record close of 8,630.3 on Tuesday with technology leading 10 of the 11 sectors higher.
In Australian fixed interest markets, Australian Government bond rates yields fell with 10-year rates losing 0.07% to 4.432% and two-year rates edging down 0.17% to 3.471%.
