Australian shares are expected to ease from a near record peak when the market opens on Thursday following a down night in New York after interest rates were left on hold.
The future market was foreshadowing a lower start with the S&P/ASX 200 March share price index (SPI) contract quoted 5 points (0.6%) down at 8,416 at 9 am AEDT (10 pm GMT).
Overnight on Wall Street the S&P 500 eased 0.5%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.3% and Nasdaq Composite shed 0.5% after the United States Federal Reserve kept interest rates steady, as was expected.
On Wednesday the S&P/ASX 200 had closed 0.6% higher at 8,447.00 on Wednesday, leaving it just 0.8% from record high of 8.514.5 in December.
In its first decision of the year and since Donald Trump became President, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) left the federal funds rate unchanged within a range of 4.25%-4.5%.
Market attention in Australia may be on Sigma Healthcare following shareholder approval of its reverse takeover by Chemist Warehouse while energy and gold stocks may dip in response to falls in the prices of oil and the previous metal overnight.
On the bond markets, Australian Government 10-year and two-year yields were 0.54% and 1.19% lower at 4.391% and 3.891%, respectively.