Australian shares are poised to rise on Tuesday, tracking a sharp fall in global oil prices after US President Donald Trump postponed military strikes on Iranian power plants and signaled progress in talks with Tehran, easing fears of a wider Middle East conflict.

Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite each rose 1.4%, while the S&P 500 gained 1.2%.

In the macroeconomy, the Australian private sector started the year on a weak footing, ending the first quarter in contraction as business activity fell for the first time in a year and a half, S&P Global said on Tuesday.

In corporate news, Myer Holdings (ASX:MYR) reported Tuesday fiscal first-half earnings of AU$0.023 per share on revenue of AU$1.88 billion, compared with earnings of AU$0.036 on revenue of AU$1.47 billion a year earlier.

Orica (ASX:ORI) has acknowledged media reports of an outage at a Western Australia ammonia supplier and confirmed it is actively managing supply, according to a Tuesday filing with the Australian bourse.

Australia's benchmark index fell 0.7% or 62.5 points to close at 8,365.90 on Monday.