People ride an escalator at a shopping mall in Beijing on the second day of the holiday in late April 2023.
Greg Baker | AFP | Getty Images
Asia Pacific markets were expected to mostly fall on Thursday ahead of a slew of economic data from the region.
Investors will be keeping a close eye on prime one-year and five-year lending rates in China to see if Beijing will try to stimulate economic growth by cutting rates, days after China’s second-quarter GDP fell short of expectations.
Japan is also due to release trade data for June, with economists polled by Reuters expecting a trade deficit of 46.7 billion yen ($334.4 million), sharply down from 1.37 trillion yen the previous month.
Futures are Nikkei 225 Index Expected to open softly, the Chicago futures contract was at 32,875 points and the Osaka futures contract was at 32,860 points, compared with the last close of 32,896.03 points.
In Australia, futures S&P/ASX 200 Index At 7,286, it was below the index’s last close of 7,323.7 and ahead of unemployment data for June. The unemployment rate was expected to remain unchanged at 3.6%, according to a Reuters poll.
In contrast, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was poised for a rebound after two days of losses, with futures at 18,970, compared with a close of 18,952.31.
All three major U.S. stock indexes rose overnight as corporate earnings season continued. Dow Jones Industrial Average And the longest winning streak in nearly four years.
The Dow rose 0.31%, its eighth straight day of gains, while the S&P 500 rose 0.24%. The Nasdaq Composite was the smallest gainer, up 0.03%
— CNBC’s Sarah Min and Brian Evans contributed to this report