Asia markets are set for another cautious open on Thursday as the U.S. attempts to restart negotiations with China on trade.
The Nikkei futures contract in Chicago was at 22,635, while its counterpart in Osaka was at 22,620. The Nikkei 225 last closed at 22,604.61.
In Australia, the SPI futures were at 6,162.0 compared to the last close of the ASX 200 at 6,175.9.
The U.S. was in the early stages of proposing a new round of trade talks with China in the near future, sources familiar with the matter told CNBC on Wednesday. This came after Dow Jones reported earlier that senior U.S. officials led by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had sent an invitation to Chinese officials requesting for a “ministerial-level delegation” to attend the trade discussions.
Following the news, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 saw small gains for the trading day stateside. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed by 27.86 points to close at 25,998.92, while the S&P 500 saw a slight gain of 0.04 percent to end the day at 2,888.92. The Nasdaq Composite, however, closed 0.2 percent lower at 7,954.23 on the back of a fall in tech stocks.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies, was at 94.799 as of 6:56 a.m. HK/SIN, off its high from yesterday.
The Japanese yen was slightly higher against the dollar at 111.23 yen, while the Australian dollar was largely flat at $0.7168, as of 6:58 a.m. HK/SIN.
Overnight in the oil markets, futures contracts rose on the back of a greater-than-expected fall in U.S. crude inventories, with impending sanctions by Washington on Tehran continuing to weigh on concerns over its potential impact on global crude supply. The global benchmark Brent crude futures contract reached a high of $80.13 per barrel, before settling at a price of $79.74. U.S. crude futures also rose by $1.12 to settle at $70.37 a barrel, its highest in a week.
Here is a look at economic data due to come out during the trading day:
- Australia — jobs data at 9:30 a.m. HK/SIN
— CNBC’s Fred Imbert and Tae Kim, along with Reuters, contributed to this report.
