The Australian sharemarket is set to open higher on Wednesday, following gains on Wall Street as technology stocks recovered and falling oil prices and bond yields eased some inflation concerns.
ASX futures at 5.59am AEST pointed to a 34-point, or 0.4%, rise at the open.
Investors face another busy day of reporting season, with Woolworths, WiseTech Global, Domino’s Pizza, Lovisa, DroneShield, Sandfire Resources and Netwealth among companies due to report.
Attention will also turn to the latest Australian inflation figures at 11.30am AEST. Commonwealth Bank economists expect headline inflation to ease to 3.2%, with trimmed mean inflation forecast at 3.5% year-on-year.
ASX gains as reporting season rolls on
The ASX added 0.7% on Tuesday as investors continued to digest company earnings.
Flight Centre was among companies reporting, revealing that disruption caused by the Middle East conflict wiped about $60 million from fourth-quarter leisure profits.
Underlying profit before tax fell 4% to $278 million for the year from $289 million a year earlier, with travel cancellations and disruption offsetting an improvement in its corporate business.
Wall Street rebounds ahead of Nvidia results
US stocks finished higher as technology shares bounced back from Monday's sell-off ahead of Nvidia's closely watched results.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.3%, the S&P 500 rose 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.7%.
Nvidia climbed 2.2%, Meta Platforms gained 2% and Micron Technology added 2.5%, while Advanced Micro Devices jumped 4.9% following a broker upgrade.
Moderna surged 14% after an upgrade, while Dick’s Sporting Goods plunged 31% after cutting its annual forecasts.
Lower oil prices also helped push Treasury yields down. The US 10-year yield fell around 8 basis points to 4.62%, while the 2-year yield dropped 6 basis points to 4.18%.
Investors are now awaiting Nvidia's results as well as preliminary US second-quarter gross domestic product and personal consumption expenditures price data.
European markets edge higher
European shares also advanced as investors took some comfort from falling oil prices and a US sanctions package against Iran that was viewed as less threatening to global crude supplies than further military escalation.
The FTSEurofirst 300 and London's FTSE 100 both finished 0.3% higher.
Healthcare led the gains, rising 1.2%, with Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO) up 2.9% following a broker upgrade and Zealand Pharma gaining 5.6%.
Industrials advanced 1.1%, helped by a 10.4% jump in Melrose Industries after the aerospace components supplier outlined a timetable for returning one of its plants to full production.
Luxury stocks lagged, with Kering down 3.3%, while European software and data companies came under pressure following Google's announcement of its Gemini Enterprise offering for lawyers and law firms.
Currencies steady
Currency markets were relatively subdued.
- The euro gained 0.1% to US$1.1674.
- The Japanese yen was little changed at ¥159.21 to the US dollar.
- The Australian dollar strengthened 0.2% to around US71.62 cents.
Oil tumbles while copper pushes higher
Oil was the standout mover across commodities, with Brent crude dropping 3.9% as traders judged the latest US sanctions against Iran as posing less immediate risk to global supplies than an escalation in military action.
- Brent crude futures settled at US$88.58 a barrel, extending their retreat following a powerful rally driven by disruption and uncertainty surrounding the Strait of Hormuz.
- Copper moved in the opposite direction, climbing 1.7% to its highest level in a week as investors focused on tight inventories. Aluminium gained 0.4%.
- Gold's recent rally lost some momentum, with futures easing 0.1% to US$4,695 an ounce ahead of key US inflation data.
- Iron ore futures were broadly steady, adding 0.1% to US$95.40 a tonne.