Asia looks set to open weak following Wall St drop

Asia looks set to follow Wall Street's lead as futures point to another weak open for markets in this region.

Australian SPI futures were down 0.5 percent at 4,932 compared with the S&P/ASX 200's last close of 4,992. Japanese futures in Chicago and Osaka were down 0.59 percent at 15,990 and 1.11 percent at 16,060, respectively.

Evan Lucas, market strategist at IG, said in a morning note there were some upsides in overnight trade.

"The US was unable to have four consecutive 1 [percent] gains, which it has only done once since 1982," he wrote, adding, "However, the snap back is a positive too big to ignore and even if it lost 1 [percent] tonight, it will still have had its best week of 2016."

In Europe, Lucas said the bank 'capitulation' trade was closing as "markets respond to the fact money markets and TLTRO [Targeted Longer-Term Refinancing Operations] loans are not showing any signs of distress and the 'whatever it takes' line is trotted out again by the ECB shoring up default concerns."
Oil prices were mixed overnight after government data showed a rise in U.S. crude stockpiles, contradicting an earlier industry report that said inventories fell by 3.3 million barrels in the week to Feb. 12.

CNBC