Updated September 27, 2019 10:52:50

Photo: Wall Street has risen and fallen in the past week on on mixed signals about the US-China trade dispute. (REUTERS: Brendan McDermid/file)

Australian shares are trading modestly higher, shrugging off a weak lead from Wall Street — which was weighed down by impeachment and trade war concerns.

By 10:50am (AEST), ASX futures had lifted by 0.6 per cent to 6,714 points.

Meanwhile, the local currency was flat at 67.48 US cents.

"The Australian dollar has been in a downtrend and remains vulnerable to the downside," said NAB senior foreign exchange strategist Rodrigo Catril.

He said the market is now pricing in a 77 per cent chance that the Reserve Bank will cut interest rates to an historic low of 0.75 per cent next week.

Whether or not Donald Trump keeps his office might come down to what transpired in a phone call.

The Dow Jones index fell 0.4 per cent to 12,289 points.

The benchmark S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq indices dropped 0.2 and 0.6 per cent respectively.

Political concerns were top of mind for US investors, as they kept abreast of the whistleblower complaint which triggered an impeachment inquiry into United States President Donald Trump.

The anonymous complainant alleges that Mr Trump abused his position as President to solicit foreign interference from the Ukraine, ahead of next year's US election.

US markets also fell on concerns that US-China trade tensions might flare up again.

For several months, the Trump administration has granted Huawei a temporary waiver from its trading blacklist — which bans American companies from selling supplies to the Chinese technology company.

However, stocks hit their session lows after Bloomberg reported, citing a source, that the Trump Administration is unlikely to extend that special exemption to Huawei.

In contrast, European markets fared better, with London's FTSE and Germany's DAX rising 0.8 and 0.4 per cent respectively.

Despite the political uncertainty, the US dollar index — which measures the greenback against a basket of other currencies — jumped to its highest level in almost two years.

"It seems that when push comes to shove, the US dollar remains the safest place to be at the moment," Mr Catril said.

"In addition to its prime reserve currency status, the greenback is still benefiting from a yield supremacy and a US economy that is still performing relatively well."

Spot gold was steady at $US1,503.80 an ounce.

Brent crude oil has risen 0.4 per cent to $US62.62 per barrel.

ABC/Reuters

Topics: business-economics-and-finance, stockmarket, markets, currency, australia, united-states

First posted September 27, 2019 07:42:50