People ride an escalator at a shopping mall in Beijing on the second day of a holiday in late April 2023.
Greg Baker | Afp | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets are set to mostly fall on Thursday ahead of a slew of economic data across the region.
Investors will be closely watching China’s one and five-year loan prime rates to see if the country’s government will attempt to spur growth by cutting rates, days after China’s second quarter GDP came in below expectations.
Japan is also set to release its trade figures for June, with economists polled by Reuters expecting its trade deficit to come in at 46.7 billion yen ($334.4 million), a sharp fall compared to last month’s 1.38 trillion yen.
Futures for the Nikkei 225 point to a weak open, with the futures contract in Chicago at 32,875, and its counterpart in Osaka at 32,860 against its last close at 32,896.03.
In Australia, futures for the S&P/ASX 200 are at 7,286, lower than the index’s last close of 7,323.7, and ahead of its unemployment figures for June. The unemployment rate is expected to remain unchanged at 3.6%, according to a Reuters poll.
In contrast, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index is set for a rebound after two straight days of losses, with futures at 18,970 compared to the HSI’s close of 18,952.31.
Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes gained as the corporate earnings season continued, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and its longest winning streak in nearly four years.
The Dow traded 0.31% higher to register its eighth straight day of gains, while the S&P 500 climbed 0.24%. The Nasdaq Composite saw the smallest gains, adding 0.03%
— CNBC’s Sarah Min and Brian Evans contributed to this report
Source link: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/20/asia-markets.html