Australian shares are poised to fall on Monday as investors brace for a likely Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) rate hike to 4.35% on Tuesday, with persistent inflation pressures and rising fuel costs linked to Middle East supply disruptions keeping the central bank on a hawkish path even as global peers hold steady.
On May 1, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.3% and 0.9%, respectively, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3%.
In the macroeconomy, Australia's building approvals and ANZ-Indeed job ads reports are due at 11:30 am Sydney time.
In corporate news, National Australia Bank (ASX:NAB) reported Monday fiscal first-half cash earnings of AU$0.861 per share on net operating income of AU$10.87 billion, compared with cash earnings of AU$1.145 on net operating income of AU$10.27 billion a year earlier.
Viva Energy Group (ASX:VEA) expected repairs needed to restart the residue catalytic cracking unit at its fire-hit Geelong Refinery to take about six weeks before the unit returns to operation in June.
Australia's benchmark index rose 0.7% or 64 points to close at 8,729.80 on May 1.