Australian shares set to start higher after Wall Street rebound

The news: The Australian sharemarket is set to start higher after gains for major US indices overnight, helped by a rally in technology shares.

The numbers: The Dow Jones index was up 0.11% and the broader S&P 500 added 0.45% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.9%. In the local market, ASX 200 futures were trading 64 points or 0.87% higher at 7379 points at 7:00am AEDT on Friday.

The context: US stocks rose largely on the back of a rally in chip and technology shares but gains were limited by doubts persisting about early interest rate cuts. Shares in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) jumped 8% after the world's largest contract semiconductor maker projected revenue growth of more than 20% on booming demand for high-end chips used in artificial intelligence applications. It also drove Nvidia, AMD and other tech stocks higher.

Meanwhile, data showed the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell, suggesting solid job growth in January and raising fresh doubts about expectations that the Federal Reserve will begin cutting interest rates in March.