Australian shares were set to fall at open on Wednesday as investors feared that interest rate cuts would not be enough to combat the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak. The U.S. Federal Reserve on Tuesday announced an emergency half-percentage point interest rate cut, becoming the second central bank from a developed nation to slash rates after Australia's 25 basis point trim earlier in the day. The local share price index futures <YAPcm1> fell 1.1%, a 139.7-point discount to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index <.AXJO> close. The benchmark closed 0.7% higher on Tuesday.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index <.NZ50> was down 0.7% at 11,271.98 in early trade.
(Reporting by Arpit Nayak; Editing by Chris Reese)
