Updated March 16, 2018 08:24:34

Photo: US markets were rattled by media reports that the US Special Counsel has subpoenaed the Trump Organization. (Mik Efford; Flickr.com/CC/BY-NC-NC/2.0)

Australian shares may open slightly higher, following a mixed performance on Wall Street.

Trump subpoena rattles market

The Dow Jones rose 0.6 per cent. However, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell by 0.1 and 0.2 per cent respectively.

The broader market dropped after the New York Times reported US Special Counsel Robert Mueller had subpoenaed the Trump Organization for documents as part of its investigation into whether Russia interfered with the 2016 US election.

Although details of the subpoena were not available, this is the first known instance of Mr Mueller demanding material directly related to President Donald Trump's businesses.

Earlier in the session, all three US indexes traded higher after White House trade adviser Peter Navarro tried to talk down the chances of a trade war as a result of the US tariff on imported metals.

Mr Navarro said in his CNBC interview America's tough approach to global trade would not necessarily provoke retaliation from its trading partners.

This was despite the European Union, China and other countries having already threatened to retaliate with their own tariffs on US imports.

Wall Street was also boosted initially by government figures which showed US jobless claims fell last week, pointing to strength in the labour market.

However, as earnings season has drawn to a close, political developments, like the firing of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson this week, significantly influenced the direction of US stocks.

"The market is looking to bite on something to push it out of its trading range," said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott.

Steep fall for the dollar

The banking royal commission continues today, with witnesses from ANZ and Aussie Home Loans likely to be questioned.

Meanwhile, the Australian dollar fall sharply — by more than 1 per cent at 7:00am AEDT — to 78 US cents and 82.8 Japanese yen.

It also dropped against the British pound (-0.8pc), euro (-0.5pc) and New Zealand dollar (-0.2pc).

"A stronger US dollar, lower commodity prices, and rising global trade tensions have weighed on the Australian dollar, which has under‑performed the major currencies," Commonwealth Bank's chief currency strategist, Richard Grace, said.

The greenback was boosted by comments from incoming White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow in a CNBC interview.

Mr Kudlow said he would like to see the US dollar, "a wee bit stronger than it is currently, but stability is the key".

"I would buy King Dollar [the US dollar] and I would sell gold," he said.

The price of gold subsequently fell 0.6 per cent to $US1,316 an ounce.

Topics: business-economics-and-finance, stockmarket, markets, currency, economic-trends, company-news, united-states, australia

First posted March 16, 2018 07:24:30