Wall Street closed slightly lower on Monday while the Turkish lira clawed back some of its overnight losses ahead of Asia’s Tuesday trading day.
The Turkish lira pared some losses after steeply falling against the dollar on Monday after a diplomatic row between Turkey and the U.S. saw the countries suspend visa services for each other. The deterioration in ties followed Turkey’s arrest of a local employee working at the U.S. consulate in Istanbul for supposed ties to a U.S.-based cleric accused of planning a failed coup in 2016.
The Turkish currency traded at 3.7022 to the dollar at 6:43 a.m. HK/SIN after falling by some 6 percent earlier.
“Although the spat is quite specific, markets will be on the look-out for any signs of contagion into other emerging markets,” said Giulia Lavinia Specchia, an economist at ANZ, in a morning note.
In Asia-Pacific equities, futures implied a rather flat open for Japan as the market re-opened after the long weekend. Nikkei futures traded in Chicago were up 0.17 percent at 20,725 while Osaka futures were off 0.2 percent at 20,650. Those compared to the benchmark index’s Friday close of 20,690.71.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.03 percent in early trade, with gains in telecommunication services and gold stocks offset by losses in energy names.
Taiwan markets were closed for a public holiday.
Stocks on Wall Street closed a tad lower on Monday after relatively quiet trade as earnings season loomed. The Dow Jones industrial average shed 0.06 percent, or 12.6 points, at 22,761.07, the S&P 500 lost 0.18 percent, or 4.6 points, to close at 2,544.73 and the Nasdaq declined 0.16 percent, or 10.45 points, to end at 6,579.73.
In corporate news, the chief executive of Fiat Chrysler said he wasn’t certain if a merger with Great Wall Motor was the right solution, Reuters reported on Monday. The Chinese automaker had expressed interest in acquiring the company in August.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six major rivals, stood at 93.675 at 6:50 a.m. HK/SIN, a touch below the 93.8 seen around the end of Asian trade on Monday. The U.S. currency was largely flat against the yen, with the dollar last trading at 112.66.
On the energy front, oil prices climbed overnight following comments out of OPEC that more could be done to tackle to oversupply in global oil markets. The bloc will next meet on Nov. 30. Brent crude added 17 cents to settle at $55.79 a barrel and U.S. crude futures tacked on 29 cents to settle at $49.58.
In economic news, China foreign exchange reserves increased by $17 billion in September to $3.109 trillion, Reuters said, citing data from the People’s Bank of China. The eighth consecutive monthly rise in the country’s forex reserves was attributed by Reuters to strict capital outflow regulations and a firmer yuan.
Here’s the economic calendar for Tuesday (all times in HK/SIN):
- 7:50 a.m.: Japan August current account
- 8:30 a.m.: Australia NAB business confidence survey
- 9:00 a.m.: Philippines balance of trade and industrial production
Source: cnbc china
Asian shares to focus on softer US close as the Turkish lira pares some losses