SINGAPORE – Asia Pacific stocks were set for a quiet start on Tuesday after a subdued end overnight on Wall Street.
Futures indicated a higher open for Japanese stocks, with the Nikkei futures contract trading at 29,635 in Chicago while its Osaka counterpart trading at 29,570. This is compared to the Nikkei 225’s last closing price at 29,538.73.
Meanwhile, stocks in Australia appeared to be on the verge of collapsing. The SPI futures contract was 6,964, compared to the last closing price of the S & P / ASX 200 at 6,974.
Looking ahead, China’s March trade data is expected to be released around 11:00 a.m. HK / SIN on Tuesday.
For corporate developments, investors in Hong Kong will be watching Chinese tech giant Alibaba after the Chinese central bank announced on Monday that Alibaba’s financial technology subsidiary Ant Group will be restructuring as a financial holding company. It comes just days after Alibaba was fined $ 2.8 billion for violating antimonopoly rules.
Overnight in the US, the S&P 500 ended its trading day barely changed at 4,127.99, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 55.2 points to close at 33,745.40. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.36% on the day to 13,850.
The muted moves on Wall Street came as investors waited for the inflation figure to be released in the US on Tuesday.
Currencies
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback versus a basket of its peers, was 92.138 – mostly struggling to recover from last week’s slip above 92.8.
The Japanese yen was trading at 109.40 per dollar, stronger than above 109.5 against the greenback seen yesterday. The Australian dollar changed hands at $ 0.7623, below the level of over $ 0.765 in the previous week of trading.
Here’s a look at what’s on tap:
- China: March trade data at 11:00 AM HK / SIN