Australian shares to start higher after gains on Wall Street

The news: The Australian sharemarket is set to open higher tracking gains on Wall Street, where US consumer price data failed to dampen investor hopes of interest rate cuts in the coming months.

The numbers: The Dow Jones index ended 0.59% higher, while the broader S&P 500 rose 1.12% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 1.53%. In the local market, ASX 200 futures were up 14 points or 0.18% at 7729 points at 7:00am AEDT on Wednesday.

The context: US stocks ended firmly higher following data that showed the consumer price index rose 0.4% last month after climbing 0.3% in January. Traders now see a 70% chance of the first rate cut coming in June, the CME FedWatch Tool showed, versus 71% ahead of the inflation report. Producer price data is due later this week.

The S&P 500 also registered a record high close as Oracle shares surged a day after it reported upbeat quarterly results.