Asia stocks face mixed start, dollar nudges higher - market wrap

Asian stocks faced a mixed start after a muted U.S. session which saw the dollar extend its advance and gains in technology stocks offset a slide in energy producers as crude declined.

It’s been a relatively quiet start to the week for markets ahead of Friday’s U.S. inflation data that may give clues on the path of U.S. monetary policy. Energy stocks fell even as the S&P 500 Index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out fresh record highs.

Futures on the S&P 500 were little changed at 7 a.m. in Tokyo. The underlying gauge rose 0.2 percent to an all-time high on Monday, when the MSCI All-Country World Index added 0.3 percent, also closing at a record.

Futures on Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average were little changed, while contracts on Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index added 0.2 percent. Hang Seng Index futures slipped 0.2 percent.

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index advanced 0.1 percent on Monday, extending its gains from Friday.
The euro traded at $1.1796 after gaining 0.2 percent on Monday. The Aussie held at 79.13 U.S. cents and the kiwi clung on to two days of weakness at 73.62 U.S. cents.

The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell one basis point to 2.25 percent.

West Texas Intermediate crude dropped 0.4 percent to $49.39 a barrel.
Gold was little changed at $1,257.67 an ounce.

Source: Bloomberg Pro Terminal

Jr Trader Ivan Ivanov

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