Asian shares poised for a mixed open; dollar slides

FAN Editor

Wall Street closed mostly higher as investors stateside focused on earnings releases ahead of Asia’s Wednesday trading day.

U.S. stocks closed mixed on Tuesday, with market focus shifting from politics to corporate earnings after a three-day government shutdown came to an end on Monday. Of note, shares of Netflix jumped 10 percent after the video streaming company reported expectation-topping subscriber growth numbers.

As of last week, 79 percent of S&P 500 companies that have reported results for the fourth quarter have surpassed expectations, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed mostly flat at 26,210.81, the S&P 500 tacked on 0.22 percent to end at 2,839.13 and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.71 percent to finish the session at 7,460.29.

Back in Asia, futures pointed to a lower open for Japanese markets after the Nikkei 225 hit a fresh 26-year high on Tuesday. Nikkei futures traded in Chicago were off by 0.41 percent at 24,025 and Osaka were down 0.56 percent at 23,990 compared to the benchmark’s last close.

In Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 edged up 0.23 percent in early trade.

Meanwhile, trade concerns simmered in the background after President Donald Trump approved tariffs on imported solar cells and certain washing machines earlier this week. South Korea indicated on Tuesday that it would raise the matter with the World Trade Organization.

“Outside of stepping away from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, this was the first real shift from protectionist rhetoric to actual action against China and others,” ANZ Research said in a morning note, although it acknowledged the economic impact appeared “relative minor” for the time being.

“[T]he real question is how far the protectionist stance might start to be extended,” Richard Yetsenga, chief economist at ANZ, said in the note.

In currencies, the greenback’s rally late during Tuesday Asia trade subsided. At 6:45 a.m. HK/SIN, the dollar traded at 110.23 against the yen. The dollar had risen as high as 111.17 in the Monday session after the Bank of Japan kept its monetary policy steady.

Meanwhile, the euro firmed following the release of upbeat euro zone consumer confidence data. The common currency last traded at $1.2297.

Correspondingly, the dollar index, which tracks the dollar against six major currencies sank to its lowest levels in three years on Tuesday. The dollar index last stood at 90.097, below levels around the 90.4 handle seen at the beginning of the week.

On the energy front, Brent crude futures rose 1.4 percent to settle at $69.96 per barrel on Tuesday. U.S. crude advanced by the same level to settle at $64.47.

Here’s the economic calendar for Wednesday (all times in HK/SIN):

  • 7:50 a.m.: Japan trade data
  • 8:30 a.m.: Japan Nikkei manufacturing flash PMI
  • 12:00 p.m.: Malaysia inflation

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