Asia’s stock indexes were set to open lower following a sell-off in tech stocks overnight on Wall Street.
Nikkei futures in Chicago were at 22,530, while futures in Osaka were at 22,520. The index last closed at 22,580.83.
SPI futures in Australia were at 6,190.0, as compared to the ASX 200’s last close at 6,230.4.
Overnight on Wall Street, the Nasdaq Composite saw its worst day since Aug. 15 as it fell by 1.2 percent to 7,995.17. The S&P 500 also slid by 0.3 percent to 2,888.60. The Dow Jones Industrial Average bucked the overall trend stateside by closing 22.51 points higher at 25,974.99.
The sell-off in the Nasdaq and S&P 500 was led by a fall in tech stocks, as Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg both testified in front of Congress, addressing issues surrounding online election meddling and abuse on social platforms.
Trade also remains in focus for markets as Canada and the U.S. resumed negotiations on Wednesday regarding the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement. The ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China could also intensify this week, with President Donald Trump reportedly saying over the weekend that he is ready to impose tariffs on an additional $200 billion worth of Chinese imports as soon as the public comment period ends on Thursday.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies, was at 95.184 as of 6:53 a.m. HK/SIN, off its high from yesterday.
The Japanese yen strengthened slightly against the dollar at 111.48 as of 6:55 a.m. HK/SIN. At the same time, the Australian dollar also saw slight gains at $0.7192.
On Wednesday, oil prices fell more than 1 percent as fears eased over a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico and trade tensions raised concerns about future fuel demand. The global benchmark Brent crude futures dropped by 1.15 percent to settle at $77.27 per barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures slid 1.65 percent to settle at $68.72 per barrel.
— CNBC’s Fred Imbert and Sam Meredith, along with Reuters, contributed to this report.
