Stocks on Wall Street declined as tech names edged lower ahead of the Asia’s Wednesday trading day. The data calendar for the region is relatively light and investors will likely keep an eye on the Senate vote on a U.S. tax bill.
House Republicans will have to vote on the GOP tax bill again after approving plans to reform the U.S. tax system by a margin of 227-203 earlier on Tuesday. The do-over is required as three provisions in the bill do not meet a procedural rule.
The Senate will likely clear the bill — which includes a provision that will see the corporate tax rate cut from 35 percent to 21 percent in 2018 — later on Tuesday U.S. time. The House, meanwhile, is expected to vote on the revised bill on Wednesday.
Wall Street declined on Tuesday after hitting record closes in previous consecutive sessions. Among notable moves in the session was a 1.1 percent fall in Apple shares after the tech giant was downgraded by Nomura Instinet.
The Dow Jones industrial average edged down 0.15 percent, or 37.45 points, to close at 24,754.75. Other major indexes recorded slightly steeper losses, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite shedding 0.44 percent to end at 6,963.85.
In Asia, futures suggested stocks in Japan would be little changed at the open. Nikkei futures traded in Chicago were 0.17 percent lower at 22,830 compared to the index’s previous close of 22,868. Osaka futures were off 0.25 percent.
Over in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.19 percent early in the day, with most sectors recording declines, save for the materials and consumer discretionary sub-indexes.
The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. currency against six major peers, was weaker, trading at 93.451 at 7:06 a.m. HK/SIN. Compared with stocks, the greenback has had a subdued reaction to tax reform optimism, although the dollar index had begun the week around the 94 handle.
Against the yen, the dollar edged up to trade at 112.86.
In the energy space, oil prices inched higher as markets focused on the Forties Pipeline shutdown in the North Sea and OPEC-led production curbs. Brent crude futures rose 0.6 percent to settle at $63.80 per barrel and U.S. crude gained 0.5 percent to settle at $56.46.
Meanwhile, bitcoin took a dive late during the U.S. Tuesday trading day, losing $1,000 in the span of an hour. CME and Cboe bitcoin futures also settled lower in the last session.
At 6:41 a.m. HK/SIN, the cryptocurrency had pared some of those losses to trade at $17,207.14, according to industry site CoinDesk. It had fallen as low as $18,960.52 earlier.
Mitsubishi Materials on Tuesday said it has found additional issues relating to a data fabrication scandal at the company. In its latest update, Mitsubishi Materials said its Mitsubishi Cable Industries unit could have fabricated data on some of its magnet wires.
The Asian trading session on Wednesday is fairly data-light (all times in HK/SIN):
- 12:30 p.m.: Malaysia inflation rate
- 3:05 p.m.: Bank of Thailand interest rate decision
- 4:00 p.m.: Taiwan export orders
Source: cnbc china
Asia markets to focus on US tax plan progress; Wall Street edges lower