March 30, Reuters - Australian shares are likely to inch higher on Monday as a slowdown in the country's growth rate of coronavirus cases will likely provide some respite to investor sentiment, while the downward pressure from the epidemic's impact on firms may weigh.
The daily rate of the spread of the coronavirus in Australia had halved in recent days to about 13% to 15%, health officials said on Sunday, adding that social distancing measures had helped to slow the outbreak. local share price index futures YAPcm1 rose 0.1%, an 8.4-point discount to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO close. The benchmark dropped 5.3% on Friday.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 fell 1.6% by 2103 GMT.