Asian stocks were cautious in Monday morning trade, following last week’s market turmoil stateside.
South Korea’s Kospi pared some of its earlier losses but continued to trade down by 0.14 percent, with industry heavyweight Samsung Electronics declining 0.26 percent and chipmaker SK Hynix recovering to rise 0.5 percent.
Australia’s ASX 200, which closes at 11:10 a.m. HK/SIN today ahead of the upcoming Christmas holiday, recovered from some of its earlier losses to see gains of about 0.3 percent, with most sectors trading higher.
The heavily weighted financial subindex saw gains of 0.13 percent, as shares of Australia’s so-called Big Four banks traded mixed. Commonwealth Bank of Australia shed 0.13 percent, Westpac fell 0.55 percent and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group was largely flat. National Australia Bank, on the other hand, saw gains of 0.18 percent.
The Japanese markets are closed for a public holiday.
The Chinese markets, closely watched worldwide amid Beijing’s trade spat with Washington, were mixed in morning trade. The Shanghai composite slipped around 0.2 percent while the Shenzhen composite rose 0.608 percent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index, which closes at 12 p.m. HK/SIN today ahead of the upcoming of the Christmas holiday, fell around 0.9 percent as shares of Chinese tech giant Tencent shed 1.59 percent.
China’s Ministry of Commerce said on Sunday that vice-ministerial level talks on issues such as the balance of trade and strengthening of intellectual property protections had been held earlier with the U.S. last week.
In a statement posted on its website, the ministry said the two sides had a “deep exchange” of views and achieved new progress. It also said both parties held discussions around their next call and the reciprocal visits.
In market action stateside, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slipped in early trade on Sunday evening but recovered to see gains of 77 points, implying an opening gain of 47.63 for the Dow. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures also pointed to opening gains for the two indexes.
The moves came on the back of a tumultuous week which saw the Dow experiencing its worst week in more than a decade.
The Dow lost 1,655 points, or 6.8 percent, last week for its worst week since October 2008 during the financial crisis. The S&P 500 lost 7 percent for the week and is now down 17.8 percent from its record reached earlier in the year, putting it on the brink of a bear market. The Nasdaq Composite Index is now 22 percent below its record reached in August, a bear market.
Last week, the U.S. Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate for a fourth time this year and Chairman Jerome Powell signaled the central bank would continue to unwind its balance sheet at the current pace, two monetary tightening actions that traders say are driving the stock market declines.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 96.838 after seeing highs above 97.4 last week.
The Japanese yen, widely seen as a safe haven currency, traded at 111.05 after touching lows around 113.5 in the previous trading week. The Australian dollar was at $0.7055 after seeing highs around $0.720 last week.
— CNBC’s John Melloy contributed to this report.
