Australian stocks are expected to rise for a sixth successive day after a mixed session on Wall Street.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indices finished higher in New York on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST) while a sharp fall in UnitedHealth's shares dragged the Dow Jones Industrial Average lower.
The S&P put on 0.7% and the Nasdaq increased 1.6% due to strength in technology shares. However, the Dow fell 0.6% because UnitedHealth plunged after the insurance company suspended its annual forecast and its CEO stepped down.
Tech stocks were boosted by news that NVIDIA and Advanced Micro Devices would supply semiconductors to Saudi Arabian artificial intelligence (AI) company Humain for a major data centre project.
At 8:50 am AEST (10:30 pm GMT Tuesday) the S&P/ASX 200 June share price index contract was 18 points (1.21%) higher than the previous settlement close at 8,310 points.
“That's going to provide a positive lead-in for our market today,” Chief CommSec Economist Ryan Felsman said.
The rise in the S&P 500 meant it had erased losses in the year to date which, he said, had been “quite a recovery” .
Felsman said higher crude oil, gold and copper prices could spur energy, gold mining and copper producing stocks.
The Australian sharemarket had reached a three-month peak on Tuesday on the back of increasing optimism about global trade breakthroughs, with the S&P/ASX 200 finishing 0.4% higher at 8,269.0 points.
Companies in the spotlight today include Commonwealth Bank (ASX: CBA) and Aristocrat Leisure (ASX: ALL), which have provided trading updates.
CBA announced a 6% increase in cash net profit for the third quarter of the 2025 financial year compared with the prior competitive period.
“That appears on the surface to be a positive result which could be a catalyst for the financials today,” Felsman said.
On fixed interest markets, Australian Government bond yields strengthened with 10-year rates adding 0.22% to 4.470% and two-year rates putting on 0.11% to 3.565%.
