Live: ASX poised to edge up ahead of inflation release

Wall Street's rally has continued with renewed buying in tech stocks, while the ASX is priced to edge higher.

The focus locally will be the release of Q3 inflation data, which will be a key element in the RBA's decision on interest rates next week.

Follow the day's financial news and insights from our specialist business reporters on our live blog.

Disclaimer: this blog is not intended as investment advice.

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AI stocks were back in town, or at least on Wall Street, as the S&P 500 gained 0.6% and the Nasdaq jumped 1.2% in a busy session's trade ahead of the Fed's rate decision.

The blue-chip Dow was more muted closing only marginally higher.

Ahead of today's important Q3 and September inflation data, the ASX is delicately poised with futures trading pointed to a 0.1% gain on opening.

NAB's Head of Markets Research Skye Masters said the risk sentiment was noticeably improved in both equity and credit markets, with the Nasdaq leading the rally.

"Adding support to equities overnight has been strong demand at Meta Platforms $US25bn stock sale which was five times oversubscribed while news that Oracle was expanding its partnership with Open AI (with Oracle applications and data being brough into ChatGPT) added support," Ms Masters said.

"The Philadelphia stock exchange semiconductor index (a gauge of chipmakers) is up 3.4%. This rally has come ahead of this week's earnings updates from Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon."

Oil futures were lower, down around $US2/barrel, but remain around 6-month highs.

News of Saudi, Turkey, Pakistan and Iran agreeing to continue talks helped buoy sentiment, although weighing against this was evidence that shipping oil through the Strait of Hormuz and Red Sea is still anything but safe.

October has been the worst month for attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and nearby waterways, according to data compiled by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a think tank that has tracked maritime security incidents worldwide since 2017.

Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has risen but the number of vessel attacks has increased, with risks likely to become more acute if US naval support wavers, UBS said.

Gold edged higher supported by central bank buying.

The Aussie dollar was also marginally higher ahead of today's CPI release.

Good morning and welcome to another day on the ABC markets and finance blog.

Stephen Letts from ABC business team limbering up for a blow-by-blow coverage of the day's events, where every post is hopefully a winner, but none should be construed as financial advice.

Wall Street had a solid rally overnight, particularly in the tech sector. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed up 0.6% and 1.2% respectively

At 7:00am AEDT ASX 200 futures pointed to a 0.1% gain on opening.

The focus of the day will Q3 CPI inflation data released by the ABS at 11:30am AEDT. Monthly September CPI will be released simultaneously.

We'll keep you up to date with the numbers, and the implications for next week's RBA rates decision.

The CPI release will also coincide with the RBA top brass, including Governor Michelle Bullock, fronting the Senate Estimates Committee in Canberra — so there may be a real-time reaction if the committee members have a nose for a story.

We'll keep you abreast of that talkfest too.

The game's afoot, so let's get blogging.