China, Greece fears seen weighing on Asian equities

Asian shares are bracing for another day of selloff on Thursday, with the relentless market plunge in China and Greece's debt crisis likely to continue curbing risk appetite.

Japan's Nikkei 225 will likely fall further away from the key 20,000 mark after Chicago and Osaka futures traded at 19,360 and 19,380, both below the index's previous close of 19,737. On Wednesday, the Tokyo index settled below the key psychological level for the first time in seven weeks.

Australian shares could decline as local futures edged down 0.6 percent to 5,370, a 99-point discount to the underlying S&P ASX 200 index.
Overnight, U.S. major indices ended nearly 2 percent lower as the market turmoil in China eclipsed the events in Greece and as the New York Stock Exchange suffered a nearly four hour outage.

Asia's calendar

Japan kicks off the day with May machinery orders, which is expected to see its first decline in three months. The highly volatile data set viewed as a leading indicator of capital spending likely fell 5.0 percent in May, from April's gain of 3.8 percent, according to a Reuters poll of 21 economists.

The Bank of Korea (BOK) will likely stand pat on monetary policy at its meeting, according to Moody's Analytics, after the central bank cut its policy rate by 25 basis points last month to a record-low 1.5 percent to help stave off any harmful economic effects from an outbreak of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).

At 0930 SIN/HK, Australia's jobs report and China's inflation data for June are on tap.

China's consumer price inflation (CPI) is expected to rise 1.3 percent in June from the year-earlier period, according to a Reuters poll, a tick higher than the 1.2 percent increase in May. However, producer prices scheduled for release on the same day will likely remain in a deflationary trap, with a Reuters poll forecasting a 4.5 percent drop last month after easing 4.6 percent in May.