SINGAPORE — Australian stocks were set to open lower Monday ahead of the release of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s meeting minutes on Tuesday.
In Australia, SPI futures were at 6,559, lower than the S&P/ASX 200‘s last close at 6,605.6.
Japan’s market was closed for a holiday Monday.
New Zealand’s consumer price index rose 7.3% in the June 2022 quarter compared to the same period a year ago, official data showed Monday. That’s a 32-year high for the country, and the main driver was rising prices for construction and rentals for housing, Stats NZ said.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand last week raised interest rates by 50 basis points in a bid to fight inflation.
Elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region, Macao’s government said it would extend a suspension of operations for all industries, commercial companies and venues in the special administrative region until Friday.
Casino stocks listed in Hong Kong were hit last week when the initial announcement was made.
Later this week, investors will be looking out for the Reserve Bank of Australia’s meeting minutes, China’s one-year and five-year loan prime rate decision and the Bank of Japan’s interest rate decision.
On Friday in the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average soared more than 600 points as markets reacted to bank earnings and economic data.
The Dow jumped 658.09 points or 2.15% to close at 31,288.26, and the S&P 500 rose 1.92% to 3,863.16. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.79% to 11,452.42.
Currencies
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 107.914, falling after rising above 109 last week.
The Japanese yen traded at 138.38 per dollar, after weakening sharply last week. The Australian dollar was at $0.6805.
