The Australian sharemarket is expected to open lower today following a drop on Wall Street, which ended a post-US election rally.
Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) futures trading indicated the ASX 200 index would start about 1% down from the previous close.
At 9:20 am (AEDT) the December 2024 share price index (SPI) contract was trading at 8,208, down 81 points.
At its close on 12 November the ASX 200 had gained 1.52% over the previous five days, leaving it 1.54% off of its 52-week high.
Australian stocks are likely to take their lead from the main U.S. indices which ended a winning streak on Tuesday as stocks retreated from record highs inspired by Donald Trump's re-election as President.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 0.9%, the S&P 500 slipped 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite eased 0.1%.
The ASX 200 closed had slightly lower on Tuesday as losses in mining, gold, and energy stocks outweighed gains in tech and utilities.
The index finished 10.6 points or 0.1% at lower 8,255.6, extending losses of 0.4% in the previous session.
At its close the index had gained 1.52% over the previous five days, leaving it 1.54% off of its 52-week high of 8,384,50 reached in October.
There will be attention on Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) shares today after it announced a trading update.
CBA said its unaudited cash net profit after tax was about $2.5 billion for the quarter ended 30 September 2024, which was flat when compared to the prior comparative quarter.
On the bond markets, Australian 10-year yields were 4.64%, up 0.009 (0.19%,) while two-year rates were at 4.167%, up 0.012 (0.29%).