Australian shares are expected to fall when the bourse opens on Thursday, keeping step with a lower close in New York.
Futures trading was pointing to a weaker opening by the S&P/ASX 200 with the June share price index contract trading down 37 points from the previous settlement at 8,049 at 9:30 am AEDT (10:30 pm GMT Wednesday).
This pulls the rug out from under an Australian market which had risen for five days in a row, closing 0.7% higher at 7,999.0 on Wednesday.
Worries about the impact of United States trade policy on global economies depressed the major U.S. indices on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT) with the Dow Jones Industrial Average shedding 0.3%, the S&P 500 dropping 1.1% and the Nasdaq Composite diving 2%.
CommSec said losses in big technology stocks also dragged down the benchmarks as investors awaited information about tariffs expected to be enacted next week.
Morgans Financial private client adviser Lachlan Walsh said the Australian budget on Tuesday was underwhelming with more significance for individual clients’ tax planning than the overall market.
He said the national election outcome, which is due to be held by 17 May and could be called as early as this weekend, would play a bigger role in the direction of the ASX.
Walsh noted strength in companies that would benefit from the construction of the new $3.8 billion stadium for the 2032 Olympic Games in Brisbane such as Acrow (ASX: ACF) and Wagner (ASX: WGN).
He also cited the weakness in data centre (DC) companies following reports Microsoft had pulled back on its DC expansion plans, referring to Goodman Group (ASX: GMG), NEXTDC (ASX: NXT) and DigiCo (ASX: DGT).
As for stocks to watch, weakness could be expected in companies going ex-dividend: Eagers Automotive (ASX: APE) and IPD Group (ASX: IEL).
In bond markets, the 10-year Treasury bond yield fell 0.25% to 4.475% while the two-year yield increased 0.08% to 3.770%.
