Japanese Nikkei futures in Chicago were up 0.41 percent at 19,540, while Osaka futures added 0.2 percent to 19,500. The benchmark index last closed at 19,459.15.
Iron ore futures on the Dalian exchange traded up 1.5 percent, while copper price hit its highest levels since May 2015 overnight on limited supply after strikes at BHP Billiton’s Escondida and Freeport McMoran’s Indonesian Grasberg mine, Reuters reported.
In earnings news, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. (OCBC), Singapore’s second largest listed bank, said net interest income fell 7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016 to S$1.25 billion with net allowances for loans and other assets of S$305 million, a jump of 57% above S$193 million in the same quarter a year earlier.
The bank said it continued to see loan quality stresses, particularly within the oil & gas sector which drove increases in non-performing loans and allowances with an “uncertain outlook and depressed oil prices particularly impacted oil and gas support services sector.”
The dollar is also having a moment, after it surged to a three-week high overnight and hovered at 101.01 against a currency basket during Asian trade.
Against the greenback, the yen slipped to 113.75 at 7:00 a.m. HK/SIN, weaker compared to last week’s low around 111. The Australian dollar was steady at $0.7638.
On the economic data front, the National Australia Bank business confidence survey and lending finance data are due out of Australia. China’s consumer price index and producer price index for January are also on tap.
Crude oil prices tumbled by around 2 percent on the stronger dollar and indications of rising U.S. shale output, Reuters reported.
Brent crude futures dropped 2 percent to settle at $55.59 a barrel, while U.S. crude fell 1.7 percent to $52.93.
