Asia-Pacific markets start the day lower
Asia-Pacific markets started the day lower Friday.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 benchmark fell 0.65%, while the broader Topix index was flat as of 8:15 a.m. Singapore time (8:15 p.m. ET Thursday).
In South Korea, the Kospi index dropped 1.73%, while the small-cap Kosdaq declined by 2.1%.
Over in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 benchmark fell 0.94%.
— Amala Balakrishner
Japan’s June jobless rate unchanged at 2.5%
Japan’s unemployment rate was unchanged at 2.5% in June, from the previous month, government data released Friday showed. This reading was in line with forecasts of economists polled by Reuters.
Meanwhile, there were 122 job openings for every 100 job seekers in June, lower than the 124 openings for every 100 job seekers in the previous month. This fell short of the 125 openings in Reuters’ median forecast.
Japan has experienced a tight labor market for over a decade, with the situation becoming more pronounced in recent years due to demographic challenges.
Here are the opening calls for the day
Good morning from Singapore and happy Friday.
Investors are assessing the U.S.’s latest tariff developments. They will also be keeping a watch on Japan’s jobs data for June and manufacturing data points for July from several countries in the region.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 was set to open lower, with the futures contract in Chicago at 40,785, while its counterpart in Osaka last traded at 40,760, against the index’s Thursday close of 41,069.82.
Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 24,708 pointing to a weaker open compared with the HSI’s last close of 24,773.33.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was set to start the day lower with futures tied to the benchmark at 8,632, compared with its last close of 8,742.80.
— Amala Balakrishner
U.S. stock futures slip as investors await jobs report
U.S. equity futures fell in early Asia hours Friday as investors digested the Big Tech earnings overnight and awaited the July jobs report.
Futures tied to the broad-based S&P 500 lost 0.19%, while Nasdaq 100 futures were down 0.3% as of 7:58 a.m. Singapore time (7:58 p.m. Thursday ET). Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were flat.
— Amala Balakrishner
Stocks close lower, S&P 500 slides for third straight session
Stocks closed lower on Thursday, with the S&P 500 posting its third consecutive losing session.
The broad market index slipped 0.37% to close at 6,339.39, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.03% to 21,122.45. The Dow Jones Industrial Average pulled back 330.30 points, or 0.74%, to finish the session at 44,130.98.
— Brian Evans
