Australian shares edge higher at the open, taking direction from Wall Street as US equities advanced and bond yields declined after Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said the disinflationary path is intact, opening the door to a pivot to rate cuts later this year.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 0.3 per cent, or by 22.2 points to 7740.4 at the start of trade, with seven out of the 11 sectors in the green.
The interest rate sensitive real estate sector was among the better performers, with Stockland rallying 1.4 per cent. Charter Hall rose 1.5 per cent and Scentre increased 0.6 per cent.
Overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 notched is 32nd record higher this calendar year, and closed above 5500 for the first time. It closed 0.6 per cent higher to 5509.01.
Tesla surged 10.2 per cent after it reported quarterly deliveries that fell less than feared. Six of the magnificent seven rose, with Apple up 1.6 per cent. Nvidia was 1.3 per cent lower.
At the European Central Bank's policy gathering in Portugal, Powell said that the US economy has made "quite a bit of progress" back towards the Fed's 2 per cent inflation target.
During a panel discussion, Powell said the data for April and May "do suggest we are getting back on a disinflationary path", a point that traders interpreted as a window is opening to a pivot to rate cuts.
"Naturally, risk sentiment has been given a lift by Powell's comments," said Michael Brown, senior research strategist at Pepperstone.
Stocks in focus
Embattled online book retailer Booktopia has been placed in voluntary administration.McGrathNicol has been appointed to handle the process. Shares will remain suspended after they were halted in mid-June as the company searched for more funding.
APA Group shares fell 0.7 per cent after it said it expected a non-cash impairment of $145 million to its Moomba Sydney Ethane pipeline. The forecasted impairment would result in a full write-down of the book value of Moomba Sydney Ethane pipeline and will be recorded in its financial year 2024 statements.
In corporate moves, lithium producer Sayona Mining has appointed former Adani country head Lucas Dow as managing director and chief executive. He has also worked as an executive within ASX listed mining companies, including BHP and South32.

Sumber : afr.com