Stocks in Asia are set to be mixed on Thursday. Stocks declined overnight on Wall Street, while U.S.-China trade hopes are up as negotiations are set to continue.
Australia's ASX 200 rose 0.74 percent in early trade, with most sectors seeing gains. The heavily weighted financial subindex rose 0.61 percent as shares of the country's so-called Big Four Banks advanced.
Meanwhile, futures pointed to a lower open for Japan's Nikkei 225. The Nikkei futures contract in Chicago was at 20,850 as compared to the benchmark index's last close at 20,874.06.
Overnight on Wall Street, stocks declined. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 21.22 points lower at 25,390.30, ending its three-day winning streak. The S&P 500 slipped 0.22 percent to finish its trading day at 2,731.62 to snap its five-day winning streak. The Nasdaq Composite also fell 0.36 percent to close at around 7,375.28.
The moves on Wall Street came as investors digested mixed quarterly earnings results stateside as well as U.S. President Donald Trump's second State of the Union address.
Meanwhile, on the U.S.-China trade front, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC on Wednesday that he was headed to China next week along with a delegation from Washington for more negotiations.
"We are committed to continue these talks," Mnuchin said. "We're putting in an enormous amount of effort to hit this deadline and get a deal. That's our objective."
Mnuchin also described the administration's recent meetings with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He as "very productive meetings."
Mnuchin's comments came as the two largest economies in the world are attempting to strike a deal before a deadline in early March, amid an ongoing trade dispute.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 96.382 after seeing an earlier low around 96.0.
The Japanese yen traded at 109.92 against the dollar after seeing highs around 109.54 in the previous session. The Australian dollar was at $0.7110 after slipping sharply from highs below $0.725 yesterday.
No comments:
Post a Comment