Australian shares to start higher, tracking Wall Street gains

The news: The Australian sharemarket is set to open in positive territory as investors take their cue from Wall Street, which closed higher on Friday on the back of robust quarterly results from technology heavyweights.

The numbers: The Dow Jones index ended 0.40% higher, while the broader S&P 500 gained 1.02% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 2.03%. In the local market, ASX 200 futures were up 24 points or 0.32% to 7620 points at 7:00am AEST on Monday.

The context: US stocks were led higher by tech mega-caps, with Alphabet shares jumping 10% on Friday after its better-than-expected results and first dividend. Microsoft shares rose 1.8%, Amazon gained 3.4% and Nvidia was up 5.8%, putting to rest concerns about growth in the sector.

Markets were also relieved after data showed monthly US inflation rose moderately in March. Financial markets were earlier spooked by worries of stagflation a day after data showed inflation surging and US economic growth slowing in the first quarter. Money markets are now pricing in a firmer chance of a Federal Reserve rate cut in September.