Australian shares set to edge higher after Wall Street gains

The news: The Australian sharemarket is likely to edge higher at the open following overnight gains on Wall Street as investors bet interest rates would stay steady.

The numbers: The Dow Jones index advanced 0.17%, while the broader S&P 500 gained 0.43% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.71%. In the local market, ASX 200 futures were trading just 6 points or 0.08% higher at 7124 points at 0700 AEDT on Thursday.

The context: The choppy Wall Street session was marked by the release of minutes from the US Federal Reserve's September meeting, which showed caution among policy makers amid uncertainties around the economy, oil prices and financial markets. That helped fuel investor hopes that rates would stay steady. Yields on benchmark 10-year notes fell to a roughly two-week low as investors flocked to safe haven bets as a war raged in the Middle East.

What they said: "Today's release highlights the risk of over-tightening, and knowing what has happened over the past three weeks with interest rates, that provides some comfort to investors that we're not going to see another rate hike," Angelo Kourkafas, senior investment strategist at Edward Jones, told Reuters.