Asia markets were set to open slightly lower on Thursday after the U.S. markets were mostly little changed overnight following the unveiling of new Chinese tariffs on American goods.
Australia’s SPI futures traded at 6,207, which was a touch lower than the ASX 200’s last close at 6,268.5.
Nikkei futures in Chicago and Osaka traded around 22,570 compared to the benchmark index’s previous finish at 22,644.3.
“There was a lack of data overnight with the market focusing on trade tension between the U.S. and China,” David Plank from ANZ Research said in a morning note.
Beijing said on Wednesday that it will retaliate against the latest round of U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced a 25 percent tariff on $16 billion worth of American goods. The 333 goods being targeted by China include vehicles such as large passenger cars and motorcycles.
The announcement came after the U.S. Trade Representative’s office released a finalized list of $16 billion worth of Chinese goods that will be hit with tariffs, taking effect on Aug. 23. The latest U.S. list brings the total amount of Chinese goods facing a 25 percent tariff to $50 billion.
Analysts said that reaction to the news has been “fairly muted” apart from a drop in oil prices.
Global benchmark Brent declined 3.17 percent overnight to $72.28 a barrel while U.S. crude fell 3.22 percent to $66.94.
“The move lower in prices appears to have been driven after China announced that it will levy 25 percent tariffs on U.S. gasoline, diesel and other goods in response to the $16 (billion) tariffs announced by the U.S. yesterday,” Rodrigo Catril, senior foreign-exchange strategist at the National Bank of Australia, wrote in a morning note.
Elsewhere, the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, last traded at 95.051.
Among major currency pairs, the Japanese yen traded at 110.87 to the dollar, strengthening from levels above 111.6 in the previous week. The Australian dollar traded at $0.7431 and the euro fetched $1.1612.
— CNBC’s Fred Imbert and Reuters contributed to this report.
