Australian shares are expected to open lower on Monday as global traders assess Moody's decision to downgrade the US credit rating and ahead of the Reserve Bank's Tuesday meeting.
On Friday, Moody's downgraded the US long-term issuer and senior unsecured ratings to Aa1 from Aaa and changed the outlook to stable from negative. The rating agency attributed the downgrade to "the increase over more than a decade in government debt and interest payment ratios to levels that are significantly higher than similarly rated sovereigns."
In domestic news, all eyes are on the Reserve Bank of Australia as it is widely expected to deliver a 25-basis-point rate cut on Tuesday.
In corporate news, New Hope's (ASX:NHC) run-of-mine coal production fell 5% to 4 million tonnes in the quarter ended April 30, from 4.2 million tonnes in the previous quarter, according to a Monday filing with the Australian bourse.
Elsewhere, Dicker Data (ASX:DDR) Chief Executive Officer, Chairman, and co-founder David Dicker resigned to pursue other interests, according to a May 16 filing with the Australian bourse.
Australia's benchmark index rose 0.6%, or 46.20 points, to close at 8,343.70 last Friday.
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