Australian shares to open lower after choppy Wall Street session

The news: The Australian sharemarket is set to open lower after a choppy trading session on Wall Street after the US Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 50 basis points.

The numbers: The Dow Jones index ended 0.25% lower, while the broader S&P 500 slipped 0.29% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.31%. In the local market, ASX 200 futures were down 39 points or 0.48% to 8,111 points at 7am AEST on Thursday.

The context: US stocks closed with modest losses, well off their intraday highs, after the Federal Reserve announced its first cut in more than four years. The US central bank cited a "greater confidence" that inflation was moving toward its 2% target, and cut on the higher side of estimates as it now focuses on keeping the labour market healthy.

After the rate cut announcement, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank's forecast for the path of interest rates did not imply the need for urgent action. Market expectations for the size of the rate cut had been volatile in recent days. Traders are now fully pricing in a cut of at least 25 basis points at the Fed's November meeting, with a roughly 35% chance for another 50 basis point cut.