Australian shares set to rise after mixed Wall Street session
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The news: The Australian sharemarket is set to edge higher at the open after the S&P 500 and Dow Jones indices ended lower.
The numbers: The Dow Jones index lost 0.54% and the broader S&P 500 slipped 0.30%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.25%. In the local market, ASX 200 futures were up 9 points or 0.11% to 7,952 points at 7:30am AEST on Friday.
The context: Wall Street markets were edgy ahead of the release of US nonfarm payrolls data, due at 10:30pm AEST, which will likely set the stage for the US Federal Reserve to begin cutting rates later this month.
Earlier in the session, Wall Street's main indices gained as new data helped allay concerns of labor market deterioration, with the US Labor Department reporting that the number of Americans filing for jobless claims fell by a more-than-expected 5,000 to 227,000 last week.
September has been historically weak for US equities, with the S&P 500 down about 1.2% for the month on average since 1928, according to Reuters. The index is down more than 2.5% so far this week and tech stocks have fallen about 4.8%.
The source: Reuters
