Share prices are expected to defy record highs on Wall Street and continue slipping when trading begins on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) on Tuesday.
That was the indication from ASX futures trading, which priced the June contract of the ASX 200 index 36 points or 0.4% below the prior settlement at 8,710 points, ahead of the 10:00 am AEST (12:00 am GMT) market opening.
This was despite another positive session in New York, where technology stocks pushed the major indexes higher amid renewed optimism about artificial intelligence (AI) and hopes for progress in peace talks between the United States and Iran.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite ended at closing highs, rising 0.3% and 0.4% respectively, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added just 0.1% on Monday (Tuesday AEST).
The U.S. market was cheered by comments from U.S. President Donald Trump that talks were continuing with Iran after Iran's news agency earlier announced the nation was ending indirect negotiations.
Trump also said no Israeli troops would enter Beirut following discussions with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“We don't really know where things stand," GLOBALT senior portfolio manager Thomas Martin was quoted by Reuters as saying in this article.
"The market seems to think that something's going to get done at some point, but we don't have very good information to go on, like what the Iranians really want and what Trump is willing to settle for."
Technology stocks continued to propel the U.S. market higher, with NVIDIA surging on news of a new computer chip that brings AI capabilities directly to personal computers.
The Australian market had finished virtually unchanged on Monday with the ASX 200 Index dipping 2.3 points to 8,729.4 points.
In fixed interest markets, the Australian Government bond yield curve continued to steepen as two-year rates fell by 0.63% to 4.579% and 10-year rates gained by 0.08% to 4.897% at the time of writing.
