Asia Stocks Set to Open Higher; Currencies Steady: Markets Wrap

Equities look primed for early gains Monday as markets open in Japan and Australia, before sentiment turns more cautious when trading gets underway in China.

(Bloomberg) — Equities look primed for early gains Monday as markets open in Japan and Australia, before sentiment turns more cautious when trading gets underway in China.

Futures for stocks in Tokyo indicate an advance of more than 1% following a report late Friday that Bank of Japan officials see little urgent need to address the side effects of their ultra-loose monetary policy. The yen was little changed after weakening more than 2% last week, with sharpest part of the move coming after the BOJ news.

Contracts for Australia’s benchmark also rose while those for Hong Kong fell and an index of US-listed Chinese shares eked out a small increase. Futures for the S&P 500 were steady after the gauge closed little changed on Friday. Contracts for the Nasdaq 100 rose 0.1% following continued selling in technology companies on Friday after a disappointing batch of results earlier in the week.

Earnings and central bank decisions will be in focus this week. US heavyweights including Alphabet Inc., Exxon Mobil Corp. and Meta Platforms Inc. are due to report, while in Asia investors will be watching names including Samsung Electronics Co., Rio Tinto and Hitachi Ltd.

Traders are positioning for the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank to raise interest rates and to signal whether more hikes are likely. The BOJ is projected to stand pat, letting the rate gap with its peers widen as it waits for sustainable inflation.

Attention in Chinese markets this week is on any further government stimulus as the Politburo meets. Expectations among global fund managers are low as Beijing tries to prop up growth without the kind of strong action that may create asset bubbles. Chinese stocks notched their worst week in four on Friday, despite a series of vows to boost consumption and businesses.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note edged down to 3.83% on Friday, leaving it little changed for the week. Meanwhile, the yield on the policy sensitive two-year Treasury was little changed Friday at 4.84%.

In commodities, wheat futures dropped Friday as Ukraine made preparations to continue a grain-export deal, which Russia exited this week. Oil notched its fourth weekly gain amid tentative signs that global markets are tightening. And gold slipped against a stronger dollar on Friday, paring gains made earlier in the week.

Key events this week:

Eurozone S&P Global Manufacturing & Services PMI, Monday
UK S&P Global / CIPS UK Manufacturing & Services PMI, Monday
US Conf. Board consumer confidence, Tuesday
US new home sales, Wednesday
FOMC rate decision, Fed Chair Powell news conference, Wednesday
China industrial profits, Thursday
ECB rate decision, Thursday
US GDP, durable goods orders, initial jobless claims, wholesale inventories, Thursday
Japan Tokyo CPI, Friday
BOJ rate decision, Friday
Eurozone economic confidence, consumer confidence, Friday
US consumer income, employment cost index, University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

S&P 500 futures were little changed as of 7:11 a.m. Tokyo time. The S&P 500 was little changed Friday
Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.1%. The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.3%
Nikkei 225 futures rose 1.4%
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index futures rose 0.4%
Hang Seng Index futures fell 0.5%

Currencies

The euro was little changed at $1.1127
The Japanese yen was little changed at 141.77 per dollar
The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.1891 per dollar
The Australian dollar was little changed at $0.6731

Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin fell 0.4% to $30,014.28
Ether fell 0.5% to $1,883.79

Bonds

The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined two basis points to 3.83% Friday

Commodities

West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.5% to $76.70 a barrel

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

–With assistance from Jennifer Bissell-Linsk and John Viljoen.

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