SINGAPORE — Shares in Japan looked set for opening declines on Thursday after oil prices jumped around 5% on Wednesday.
The Nikkei futures contract in Chicago was at 27,445 while its counterpart in Osaka was at 27,410. That compared against the Nikkei 225’s last close at 28,040.16.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 dipped 0.24% in morning trade.
Investors will monitor oil moves after prices rose on Wednesday, with international Brent crude futures now sitting at $121.60, a sharp rise from levels below $112 seen earlier in the week.
Oil prices have been volatile for weeks since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as investors assess the war’s impact on oil supply along with other concerns such as a Covid outbreak in China.
Hong Kong-listed shares of Chinese tech giant Tencent will also be watched by investors after the firm on Wednesday posted its slowest revenue growth on record. Tencent also said it is ‘exploring’ a financial holding company for WeChat Pay if required by Chinese regulators.
Overnight stateside, the S&P 500 dropped 1.23% to 4,456.24 while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 448.96 points to 34,358.50. The Nasdaq Composite declined 1.32% to 13,922.60.
Currencies
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 98.622 — still above 98.4 level that is was below earlier this week.
The Japanese yen traded at 121.10 per dollar, weaker as compared with levels below 119.7 seen against the greenback earlier in the week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7495, having risen from below $0.74 earlier this week.
