ASX to open lower after tech losses on Wall Street
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The news: The Australian sharemarket is set to start lower after tech losses weighed on Wall Street over night.
The numbers: The Dow Jones fell 1.04%, the broader S&P 500 lost 1.02%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 1.65% by market close.
In the local market, ASX 200 futures were down 16 points or 0.21% lower at 7,684 points at 8:00am AEDT on Wednesday.
The context: Wall Street stocks dipped over night as an AI-fuelled rally faded as each of the "magnificent seven" tech megacaps, led by Apple, Tesla and Microsoft, ended lower.
New Purchasing Managing Index (PMI) data showed that US services industry growth slowed in February as employment declined, though a measure of new orders received by services businesses increased to its highest level since last August, indicating underlying strength in the sector.
Investors will now be focused on US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell's two-day congressional testimony, which is due to kick off at 2am Thursday AEDT. It could offer clues on the central bank's interest rate plans this year.
In the local market, the Australian Bureau of Statistics will release Australian National Accounts data for the December quarter at 11:30am AEDT, including the quarterly estimate for GDP, the primary gauge of the economy's health.
However, it is widely expected to show subdued growth of around 0.3% over the final quarter and 1.5% for the year.
The source: Reuters
