Australian shares are expected to open lower on Monday as renewed uncertainty in the Middle East overshadows stronger Wall Street gains and sets the tone for the first week of corporate reporting season.
ASX 200 futures are pointing down 85 points, or 1.0%, to 8,858.
Wall Street finished higher on Friday (Saturday AEST) as Amazon's strong quarterly results boosted confidence in artificial intelligence-related stocks, helping offset a sharp decline in Apple after the iPhone maker warned of supply constraints.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.5%, the S&P 500 rose 0.7%, and the Nasdaq advanced 1.0%.
For the week, the Dow added 1%, the S&P 500 climbed 1.1%, and the Nasdaq increased 1.6%.
Six of the "Magnificent Seven" mega-cap technology companies have now reported earnings, with investors increasingly confident that the hundreds of billions of dollars invested in artificial intelligence infrastructure will generate returns.
Nvidia remains the only member of the group yet to release results, with its earnings scheduled for 26 August.
"There were worries that Amazon's spending was just moonshot spending, that it's irresponsible spending, and (CEO) Andy Jassy just put those fears to bed," Jake Dollarhide, CEO of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma was quoted as saying in a Reuters story.
Meanwhile, United States President Donald Trump said on Sunday he had cancelled plans for a fresh attack on Iran after Tehran and other Middle Eastern countries requested more time to negotiate a deal.
“The USA is locked and loaded and ready to go against the Islamic Republic of Iran, at levels of Military Terror, Strength, and Power not seen since World War II,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“Despite this, we have just been asked by Iran, and other Middle Eastern Countries, to hold off any attack in that the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to … Based on this request, I have agreed, for the future benefit of the WORLD and, likewise, the survival of a successful and prosperous Iran, to cancel the attack, subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL.”
The Australian sharemarket ended Friday's session slightly higher as gains among mining stocks helped offset weakness across other sectors.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 9.1 points, or 0.1%, to close at 8,976.8, despite six of the 11 sectors finishing lower.
For the week, the benchmark index gained 2.3%.
Among economic data releases, Australia's Home Value Index fell 0.7% in July, marking the largest monthly decline since December 2022. Falls spread beyond Sydney and Melbourne, with Brisbane declining 0.6% and Adelaide down 0.2%.
According to Cotality, Australia's housing downturn accelerated in July, with the national Home Value Index (HVI) recording its sharpest monthly decline since December 2022.
The weakness has expanded beyond Sydney and Melbourne as broader demand pressures weighed on previously resilient capital cities.
On the bond markets, 10-year yields rose 0.2% to 4.965%, while two-year yields declined 0.5% to 4.524%.
