Australian shares seen higher after modest gains on Wall Street

The news: The Australian sharemarket is set to start higher, tracking modest gains on Wall Street where investors continued to be bullish ahead of inflation data this week.

The numbers: The Dow Jones index is trading 0.51% higher and the broader S&P 500 gained 0.12% but the tech-heavy Nasdaq was down 0.08% after briefly surpassing its record closing high from November 2021. In the local market, ASX 200 futures were trading 20 points or 0.26% higher at 7584 points at 7:00am AEDT on Tuesday.

The context: US stocks rose modestly ahead of two US inflation reports this week that could influence Federal Reserve policy. Traders awaited January's Consumer Price Index and Producer Price Index to gauge prospects for interest rate cuts this year. With data reflecting a robust economy, central bankers have shown less eagerness for early rate cuts. Gains among tech shares also continued with chipmaker Nvidia surpassing Amazon.com in market capitalization amid the euphoria around artificial intelligence. In the local market, companies reporting results include CSL, Challenger and Seek.