The Australian sharemarket is set to open lower for the final trading session of the year, after Wall Street continued its selloff overnight.
ASX futures were down 36 points or 0.4% at 9am on Tuesday, for what will be a shortened session, with the market finishing at 14:10 AEDT and closing on New Year’s Day.
All three U.S. benchmarks saw profit taking on Monday, the S&P 500 closed down 1.1%, the Nasdaq Composite ended 1.2% lower and the Dow Jones fell 1%.
Boeing (NYSE: BA) shares fell 2.3% Monday after a 737-800 operated by South Korea's Jeju Air crashed, killing 179 people, in the latest accident involving one of the U.S. company's planes.
Despite the local market looking to round out the year on a damper, the ASX hit a record high on December 3, after the benchmark peaked at 8,495.20 points.
Locally, energy shares could lift on Tuesday, following oil prices edging higher overnight, after the WTI crude oil price rose 0.7% to US$71.11 a barrel and the Brent crude oil price gained 0.35% to US$74.43 a barrel. Elsewhere, natural gas prices rallied around 20% on expectations of a colder than expected January in the U.S.
Meanwhile, the gold futures price dropped 0.55% to US$2,617.8 an ounce.
In company news, fund manager Platinum Asset Management (ASX: PTM) will be delivering some festive cheer by paying a special dividend to eligible shareholders on Tuesday.
National Australia Bank (ASX: NAB) is providing $1,000 grants and other additional financial assistance to eligible customers affected by the bushfires in the Grampians region in Western Victoria, according to a statement from the Bank on Monday.
On Monday the S&P/ASX 200 closed 26.8 points, or 0.32% lower at 8,235.
The Australian dollar came under pressure this year and is marked to finish 2024 at its lowest level since October 2022, with the currency trading at $US62.21.
In cryptocurrency news, Bitcoin dipped below US$92,000 (A$147,821) early on Tuesday morning, before lifting to $92,448 at 9.30am, while Ethereum gained 0.26% to US$3,350.
