Stocks in Asia Pacific were set to trade mixed on Wednesday following developments on the U.S.-China trade front.
Futures pointed to a higher open for the Nikkei 225 in Japan, with the Nikkei futures contract in Chicago at 21,680, as compared to the index’s last close at 21,620.88.
Shares in Australia, on the other hand, were set to see opening declines. The SPI futures contract was at 6,691.0, as compared to the S&P/ASX 200’s last close at 6,724.60.
In corporate news, Japan’s Mitsubishi Motor is set to release its earnings for the first quarter later on Wednesday.
Asia-Pacific Market Indexes Chart
Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 177.29 points higher at 27,349.19, while the S&P 500 also gained 0.7% to finish its trading day at 3,005.47. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.6% to close at 8,251.40.
On the trade front, in-person trade negotiations between the U.S. and China will begin next week, sources told CNBC. They said White House officials are looking at a longer-term timeline.
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson is set to be the U.K.’s next prime minister after winning the ruling Conservative Party’s leadership race on Tuesday. Johnson has previously stated that the U.K. must leave the European Union by the October 31 deadline “do or die, come what may.”
The British pound last stood at $1.2432, after seeing a high of $1.248 yesterday.
“In our view, Johnson’s desire to push for Brexit, deal or no deal, increases the chance of an early general election and some possibly nasty GBP outcomes,” Rodrigo Catril, senior foreign exchange strategist at National Australia Bank, wrote in a note.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 97.705 rising from levels below 97.5 yesterday.
The Japanese yen, widely viewed as a safe-haven currency, traded at 108.20 after weakening from levels below 108.0 yesterday. The Australian dollar was at $0.6993 after declining from levels above $0.702 in the previous session.
Here’s a look at some of the data set to be released in the day ahead:
- Hong Kong: NagaCorp earnings
- Japan: Leading index at 1:00 p.m. HK/SIN, Line earnings for the second quarter, Mitsubishi Motor earnings for the first quarter
— CNBC’s Fred Imbert contributed to this report.
