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The Australian sharemarket is set to open higher this morning, raising hopes for a reprieve after it slumped to a six-year low on Tuesday as the Reserve Bank kept rates on hold and suggested it was in no hurry to cut them again. ASX futures were up 17 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 8829 as of 6.35am AEDT. The local bourse fell 0.9 per cent on Melbourne Cup Day amid broad-based declines, led by miners, energy stocks and utilities. The Australian dollar was 0.8 per cent weaker at US64.85¢ at 6.44am. Shares drifted lower on Tuesday after the RBA confirmed it was leaving the cash rate at 3.6 per cent and admitted it may have misjudged the extent of inflation pressures across the economy that lift the cost of living for consumers and businesses. Kicking off higher this morning, the ASX would be shrugging off a sell-down on Wall Street overnight, which was led by big tech stocks. The S&P 500 fell 1.1 per cent in afternoon trading as the tech giants that had been driving the US market’s rally this year were now leading losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.7 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite sank 2 per cent. The majority of stocks within the S&P 500 fell, and technology companies were the biggest weights dragging the market lower.
