Asia-Pacific markets start the day mixed
Asia-Pacific markets opened mixed Wednesday.
As of 8.11 a.m. Singapore time (8.11 p.m. ET), Japan’s Nikkei 225 benchmark fell 0.6% while the broader Topix index ticked down 0.11%.
In South Korea, the Kospi index dropped 0.26% while the small-cap Kosdaq was flat.
Over in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 benchmark added 0.35%.
— Amala Balakrishner
Japan’s exports fall for second straight month with no U.S. trade deal in sight, raising recession fears
Japan’s exports in June contracted 0.5% year over year, extending the 1.7% drop seen in May as deliveries continued to decline for the second straight month.
The decrease in exports was a reversal of the 0.5% rise expected by economists polled by Reuters, and comes amid a lack of a breakthrough in trade talks with the U.S.
Exports to China, Japan’s largest trading partner, were down 4.7%, while exports to the U.S. declined by 11.4% year over year, deepening from the 11% fall in May.
Read the full story, here.
—Lim Hui Jie
Trading in Japan’s Seven & i halted after Couche-Tard withdraws $47 billion bid to acquire the retailer
Here are the opening calls for the day
Good morning from Singapore.
Investors will be keeping a close watch on a slew of data points from the Asia-Pacific region today, including Japan’s trade figures, Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports numbers as well as Australia’s employment print for the month of June.
Economists polled by Reuters expect Japan’s trade balance to come in at 353.9 billion yen ($2.39 billion) surplus, better than the revised 638.6 billion yen deficit it recorded in May.
Meanwhile, separate polls by Reuters show that Singapore’s non-oil were forecast to grow 5% year on year in June, from a contraction of 3.5% in May.
Australia’s unemployment rate was expected to hold steady at 4.1% in June.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 was set to open lower, with the futures contract in Chicago at 39,545 while its counterpart in Osaka last traded at 39,540, against the index’s Wednesday close of 39,663.40.
Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 24,576, pointing to a stronger open compared to the HSI’s last close of 24,517.76.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was also set to start the day higher with futures tied to the benchmark at 8,588, compared with its last close of 8,561.80.
— Amala Balakrishner
U.S. futures slip following rally on Trump’s denial that he plans to fire Powell
Stocks end Wednesday in the green
Wednesday saw a volatile trading session that ended with a major rebound in U.S. equities.
The S&P 500 added 0.32% to close at 6,263.70. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 231.49 points, or 0.53%, ending at 44,254.78. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.26% to settle the session at 20,730.49, notching its ninth record close.
— Pia Singh
