Australian shares have fallen at the open on Thursday led by the major banks following ANZ's weaker than expected result.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index is 47.1 points, or 0.7 per cent, lower at 6328.8.

ANZ is trading 2.4 per cent lower, BHP Group has slid 1.7 per cent and Westpac is down 1.1 per cent. NAB is the best performing of the major banks, down just 0.7 per cent.

Pendal Group has fallen 8.7 per cent, AMP is down 5 per cent and Beach Energy has fallen 4.2 per cent.

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Wall Street slid overnight after the Fed kept rate son hold and indicated it will exercise lots of patience in the future. it sets p the ASX to open sharply lower this morning, writes Kyle Rodda.

The pointy end of the week is under-way, and if only relatively speaking, markets are moving on the back of several key stories. Naturally, the centrepiece of this is Wall Street; and there's been a timely mix of corporate data, economic developments, central bank meetings, and politics for market participants to digest.

The intra-day battle of these narratives has caused some modest, but interesting enough, price action in financial markets overnight; with Apple's earnings beat, weak ISM Manufacturing PMI data, a more neutral US Federal Reserve, and sputtering trade-talks between the US and China combining to twist market sentiment in interesting ways.

Read the full 8@eight here.

Here are the overnight market highlights:

ASX futures down 30 points or 0.5 per cent near 7.15am AEST
AUD -0.5% to 70.15 US cents
On Wall St at 4pm: Dow -0.6%, S&P 500 -0.8%, Nasdaq -0.6%
In New York, BHP -2%, Rio -1.6%, Atlassian -1.4%, Apple +5.1%
In Europe: Stoxx 50 flat, FTSE -0.3%, CAC closed, DAX closed
Spot gold -0.1% to $US1282.75 an ounce at 1.35pm New York
Brent crude -0.4% to $US71.77 a barrel
US oil -1% to $US63.28 a barrel
Iron ore closed
Dalian iron ore closed
LME aluminium +1% to $US1815 a tonne
LME copper -2.8% to $US6235 a tonne
2-year yield: US 2.31%, Australia 1.31%
5-year yield: US 2.30%, Australia 1.37%
10-year yield: US 2.50%, Australia 1.78%, Germany 0.01%
10-year US/Australia yield gap: 72 basis points

Woolworths' same-store sales in Australian supermarkets rose 4.2 per cent in the March quarter, the fastest growth in more than a year, as shoppers put more items in their shopping baskets.

The 4.2 per cent same-store sales growth, adjusted for the late Easter, exceeded market forecasts between 2.8 per cent and 3.3 per cent.

It followed 2.7 per cent growth in the December quarter and 4.1 per cent growth in the March quarter last year. It was the fastest growth since the December quarter 2018, when same-store sales rose 5 per cent.

In comparison, Coles' same-store supermarket sales rose 2.4 per cent in the March quarter, buoyed by higher prices for fresh foods and stronger demand for fruit and vegetables inspired by Fresh Stikeez.

Sue Mitchell has the full story here.

Wesfarmers has made a $776 million cash bid for lithium producer Kidman Resources and secured the backing of its board and joint venture partner, SQM.

The Perth-based conglomerate is offering $1.90 a share, a 47 per cent premium to Kidman's closing price, Wesfarmers said in a statement to the Australian stock exchange.

The Kidman board supports Wesfarmers' approach, on the condition that a better offer does not come along. Wesfarmers also says the deal is endorsed by Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile better known as SQM. SQM and Kidman are 50-50 partners in the Mt Holland lithium project in Western Australia.

Wesfarmers plans to inject $600 million into Mt Holland, targeting production by 2021-22.

Vesna Poljak has the full story here.

Struggling wealth manager AMP has reported cash outflows of $1.8 billion from its Australian advice business in the first quarter of 2019 as the royal commission fallout continued to drive more customers to take their savings elsewhere.

The company reported net cash outflows for the quarter of $1.8 billion, compared to $200 million in the prior corresponding quarter.

Fewer customers also gave AMP their superannuation during the quarter, with cash inflows drying up to $4.69 billion – a $1.3 billion reduction on the same time a year earlier.

The update comes ahead of the company's annual meeting in Sydney on Thursday where investors are again expected to vent their spleen over the company's disastrous year including its sale of its life business to Resolution Life for below its original book value.

Sarah Danckert has the full story here.

It's a very busy morning so far with a range of announcements coming through. Here's the brief headlines:

• Wesfarmers has made a proposal to acquire Kidman Resources
• AMP has reported its first quarter cashflows
• Woolworths has updated the market on its third quarter sales
• Bravura Solutions is in a trading halt

We'll have more on each of those soon.

The US Federal Reserve left its benchmark interest rate unchanged to avoid popping asset bubbles, as US stocks trade at record levels.

Policy makers reiterated they would remain "patient" about their next move, and while noting weak inflation said they still believe price pressures would ultimately pick up given robust economic growth and strong jobs growth.

"We don't see a strong case for moving in either direction," Mr Powell said at a press conference on Wednesday (Thursday AEST) after two days of deliberations.

"The labour market remains strong" and first-quarter GDP expanded at a "solid rate", the Fed said in its statement.

Jacob Greber has the full story here.

National Australia Bank has taken the axe to its interim dividend after surging customer compensation bills in the wake of the Hayne inquiry, slicing the interim payout per share to 83 cents 99 cents fully franked, a reduction of 16.2 per cent.

It is the first time NAB has reduced its dividend in five years The bank described it as necessary because of a "more difficult operating environment" as the bank's compensation bill to customers has soared to about $1.2 billion.

First-half cash earnings rose 7.1 per cent to $2.95 billion from the year-earlier period. In late April, the bank said it would take a new $749 million charge for customers dudded by bad advice, which reduced reported cash profit by $325 million.

James Eyers has the full story here.

Good morning and welcome to Markets Live for Thursday.

Your editor today is William McInnes.

Futures are pointing lower this morning after the Fed didn't tilt dovish as the market had been expecting and NAB cut its interim dividend.

This blog is not intended as investment advice.