Australian shares to start higher after China stimulus plans

The news: The Australian sharemarket is set to open higher despite technology stocks weighing on Wall Street, after China announced plans to shift to a "moderately loose" monetary policy for 2025.

The numbers: Updated at 7:25am AEDT:

• ASX futures: up 10 points or 0.12% at 8,454 points
• Wall Street: Dow Jones down 0.19%, S&P 500 down 0.33%, Nasdaq down 0.24%
• Europe: FTSE 100 up 0.52%, CAC 40 up 0.72%, DAX down 0.19%
• Spot gold: up 0.94% to USD2,658.14 per ounce
• Oil prices: Brent up 1.27% to USD72.02/barrel, US WTI up 1.5% to USD68.21/bbl
• AUD: up 0.71% at 64.37 US cents
• Bitcoin: down 4.25% to USD96,850.38

The context: Wall Street's main indices fell overnight, driven by a 2% drop in AI leader Nvidia after China's market regulator launched an investigation into the chipmaker over suspected violation of antimonopoly law, dragging the information technology sector down. Meanwhile, China’s Politburo announced its first move towards monetary easing in 14 years, as it seeks to address weak growth, deflation pressures and threats from US tariffs.

What to Watch: The Reserve Bank concludes its final monetary policy meeting of the year, with the central bank widely expected to keep rates on hold; and department store chain Myer holds its annual general meeting.