Australian shares are set to on open sharply lower on Tuesday, extending falls for a fourth straight session, on fears that China's willingness to let the yuan currency slide to counter U.S. tariff threats could further intensify the trade war between the world's two largest economies.
On Monday, China let the yuan tumble beyond the 7-per-dollar level for the first time in more than a decade, in a sign Beijing might be willing to tolerate further currency weakness after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened additional tariffs last week.
The local share price index futures <YAPcm1> fell 1.67% to 6,460, a 180.3-point discount to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index <.AXJO> close. The benchmark fell 1.9% on Monday.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index <.NZ50> fell 1.6% to 10,589.79 in early trade.
(Reporting by Syed Saif Hussain Naqvi in Bengaluru, editing by G Crosse)
