Investing.com - As Wall Street braces for the reveal of crucial U.S. inflation data, Australian shares opened slightly higher on Tuesday.
The upcoming U.S. CPI report is set to indicate a price hike in the previous month, largely due to escalating fuel costs. However, core inflation, which excludes unpredictable factors like food and energy, is predicted to maintain its deceleration, attributed to falling automobile prices and moderated rent hikes.
Tuesday will see shares of IGO Ltd (ASX:IGO), Lifestyle Communities Ltd (ASX:LIC), and News Corp (ASX:NWS) trading ex-dividend.
On the international front, Wall Street witnessed a minimal rise in the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 0.1%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite slightly receded by 0.1% and 0.4%, respectively. In the European markets, the Stoxx 50 experienced a 0.6% drop, while the FTSE 100 recorded a marginal rise of 0.1%. Minor declines were noted in Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40.
Locally, the agenda for the day includes the release of Westpac-MI consumer confidence figures at 10.30am, followed by the NAB business survey for February at 11.30am.
On the global stage, the Eurozone's final CPI data for February will be disclosed at 6pm, succeeded by the UK's ILO unemployment rate for January at 6pm, and the US CPI data for February at 11pm.