Australian shares to tread water, tracking Wall Street

The news: The Australian sharemarket is set to open flat, tracking a dull session overnight on Wall Street, where investors awaited US inflation data later this week.

The numbers: The Dow Jones index ended 0.13% higher, while the broader S&P 500 slipped 0.1% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.39%. In the local market, ASX 200 futures were up just 5 points or 0.06% at 7719 points at 7:00am AEDT on Tuesday.

The context: US stocks ended mixed with investors preparing for this week's consumer and producer price data, which is likely to signal whether the Federal Reserve can begin cutting interest rates in the coming months.

US consumer price data for February is due on Wednesday AEDT, with expectations for a monthly increase of 0.4% and 3.1% on an annual basis. The US producer price report is due on Friday AEDT. Data showing signs of a robust US economy slowed the stock market's rally last month, prompting traders to push back expectations on the timing of the first Fed rate cut to June from March.