The Australian sharemarket faces an uncertain start to the new week after escalating tensions in the Middle East overshadowed a positive lead from Wall Street.
By 10:30 am AEST (12:30 am GMT), the ASX 200 index was down just 6.7 points or 0.1% at 8,799.3.
Iran’s announcement that it was closing the Strait of Hormuz until further notice after United States President Donald Trump threatened to "shower" the Islamic republic with missiles has thrown sentiment into doubt.
The futures market was influenced by a positive lead from Wall Street on Friday (Saturday AEST) where stocks finished higher as investors focussed on expectations for lower interest rates and resilient corporate earnings.
The S&P 500 ended up 0.42% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite Index each put on 0.29%.
S&P 500 companies are expected to report earnings growth of 24% when the second-quarter profit reporting season begins next week with banking results, according to London Stock Exchange Group Institutional Brokers' Estimate System forecasts.
"This is a high-bar quarter with a narrow margin of error," U.S. Bank Wealth Management Chief Equity Strategist Terry Sandven was quoted as saying in a Reuters story.
"The banks will give us a good read on the underlying economic strength and what consumers and businesses are doing."
The Australian sharemarket had finished higher on Friday with the ASX 200 Index gaining 0.5% to 8,806.0 points, although eight of the 11 sectors ended in the red.
In fixed interest markets, yields on Australian Government bonds fell, with two-year rates down 0.29% to 4.497% and 10-year rates off 0.51% to 4.860% at the time of writing.
