Australian shares are expected to open lower on Wednesday after Wall Street pulled back from its record trading levels overnight, with blue-chip tech firms dragging the Nasdaq more than 2% lower.

The local share price index futures fell 0.4%, a 58.9-point discount to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index close.

The benchmark ended 0.6% higher on Tuesday.

Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.4% to 12,859.07 in early trade.