The Australian sharemarket erased its morning gains after the release of the nation’s latest inflation figures increased pressure on the Reserve Bank to lift interest rates next week.

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Nick Scali expects net profit to fall by as much as 32 per cent, to A$28 million to A$32 million. The decline reflects the cost-of-living crisis and high interest rates.

Worries about worsening inflation are weighing on Wall Street and pulling the US stock market further from its record.

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Australian shares opened higher as bank stocks led gains, helping offset a pullback in Wall Street technology names. Concerns about an AI bubble weighed on the sector after a report said OpenAI’s annualised revenue was about $US20 billion ($28.7 billion) below what had previously been signalled, according to the Financial Times. Separately, data centre startup Firmus withdrew plans for an ASX listing after investors baulked at the price and terms, scrapping an IPO that would have valued it at about $43.7 billion.

The G7 said it will release up to 100 million barrels of oil and diesel over the next four months, with a substantial “frontloaded” drawdown of diesel stocks over the next 20 days. Industry expectations put the split at roughly 50 million barrels each of oil and diesel, adding less than 1 million barrels a day to global supply. The move is widely seen as an emergency effort to curb fuel prices in the US ahead of the midterm elections, though markets view any relief as potentially short-lived.

AI company Anthropic has released its IPO prospectus, reporting a $42 billion net loss last year while first-half sales this year exceeded $16 billion. The company says it expects a second consecutive quarter of operating profitability, even as it spent $7.33 billion on compute and infrastructure last year. It also discloses heavy reliance on two major customers that are also competitors, and the article notes SpaceX’s recent financing at a $1.78 trillion valuation.