The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) is likely to start little changed on Thursday after a mixed night on Wall Street, with corporate earnings results driving the market through the day.
The March futures contract of the ASX 200 index was last quoted just two points below the prior settlement at 8,956 points at the time of writing, indicating a flat start for the benchmark at 10:00 am AEDT (11:00 pm GMT Wednesday).
Overnight in the United States, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite indexes eased, while the S&P 500 index was little changed as a stronger-than-expected employment data raised expectations of slower United States interest-rate cuts.
The Dow fell 0.1%, the S&P 500 finished virtually unchanged, while the Nasdaq Composite eased 0.2%.
Although the market still expects at least a 25-basis-point cut in June, the chances that rates would be unchanged in the U.S. thereafter increased.
New York Life Investments Global Market Strategist Julia Hermann said investors digested changes to rate cut bets "quite well" because they interpreted the strong jobs report as good news for the economy.
"This is constructive news in that the economy is not in dire need of rate cuts because the jobs market has been showing some new signs of life," Hermann was quoted in a Reuters story as saying.
"It comes down to the sweet spot of hiring being strong enough to show us the economy is resilient but not so strong as to derail expectations for future Fed easing."
The Australian market had firmed on Wednesday as the profit reporting season continued with strong banking and industrial earnings helping lift the ASX 200 Index 1.7% to 9,014.8 points.
Announcements today include results from AMP, ANZ, ASX, Breville, IAG, Northern Star Resources, Origin Energy, Orora, Paladin Energy, Pro Medicus, South32 and Temple & Webster while news includes Reserve Bank of Australia officials appearing in front of the Senate Economics Legislation Committee.
In fixed interest markets, the Australian Government bond yield curve flattened as two-year rates rose 0.05% to 4.250% and 10 year rates dropped 0.06% to 4.780%.
