SINGAPORE — Stocks in Japan were set to be little changed, while Australia markets rose in early trading Friday. Wall Street stocks rallied overnight, and oil prices fell.
Japan’s Nikkei futures contract in Chicago was at 28,120 while Osaka futures were at 28,100. The Nikkei 225’s last close was at 28,110.39. Economic data for the day includes Japan’s consumer price index for March.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.37%, with some gains in miners.
Investors will watch shares of Apple suppliers in Asia. The tech giant is reportedly planning a hardware subscription service for iPhones that could launch as soon as the end of this year. Apple rose over 2% on Thursday.
U.S. stocks rallied overnight, led by chip stocks. The Dow jumped 349.44 points, or 1%, to close at 34,707.94. The S&P 500 added 1.4% at 4,520.16, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.9% to 14,191.84.
Stocks have seesawed this week, alternating between up and down days. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are on track to close the week higher.
Oil prices continue to be in focus, falling by almost 2% overnight after a volatile session.
“[International Energy Agency] members are seeking to reduce their use of its crude,” said ANZ Research analysts Brian Martin and Daniel Hynes. They noted IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said the group is ready to release more oil from emergency stockpiles if needed.
Contributing to oil’s fall, Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries officials have also expressed to the EU their discomfort on a proposed ban on Russian oil, Reuters said citing OPEC sources.
Currencies
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 98.789 — continuing its steady rise from levels around 98.4 in the beginning of this week.
The Japanese yen traded at 122.31 per dollar, little changed from earlier. The Australian dollar was at $0.7517, as it continued to jump from levels around $0.74 earlier in the week.
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.