Summary

• SPI futures are down 1.1% and point to a sharp drop for the ASX 200 at Wednesday's open
• The Australian dollar hit a 15-month high of US71.47c overnight and is currently US71.27c
• A slight pullback in tech stocks late in US trade weighed on Wall Street indices
• Commodity prices benefited from the weaker USD. Oil and iron ore rose, while gold set a new nine-year high of $US1841 in US trade