By SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific looked set for a negative start on Monday, ahead of the release of a private survey on China’s service sector activity for May.
Futures pointed to a lower open for Japanese stocks. The Nikkei futures contract in Chicago was at 27,585 while its counterpart in Osaka was at 27,570 — lower than the Nikkei 225’s last close at 27,761.57.
Australian stocks also appeared poised to decline at the open, with the SPI futures contract at 7,210, against the S&P/ASX 200’s last close at 7,238.80.
Markets in South Korea are closed on Monday for a holiday.
Looking ahead, the Caixin Services Purchasing Managers’ Index is set to be out at 9:45 a.m. HK/SIN on Monday. The release comes on the back of last week’s official non-manufacturing PMI print of 47.8 for May, an improvement over April’s reading of 41.9 but still below the 50 mark that separates expansion from contraction.
PMI readings are sequential and represent month-on-month expansion or contraction.
Currencies
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 102.133 following a recent climb from levels below 102.
The Japanese yen traded at 130.83 per dollar, weaker as compared with levels below 128 seen against the greenback last week. The Australian dollar was at $0.721 after declining from above $0.725 late last week.
