In Asia, Japanese stocks look poised to edged lower at the open, with Nikkei futures trading lower by 0.25 percent in Chicago at 19,930 and Osaka futures down 0.2 percent at 19,940. Both were lower compared to the Nikkei 225’s last close of 19,979.90.
Australian SPI futures were higher by 0.26 percent at 5,682 against the S&P/ASX 200’s Tuesday close of 5,667.474.
Stocks closed lower on Wall Street overnight. The Dow Jones industrial average edged down by 0.23 percent or 47.81 points to close at 21,136.23, the S&P 500 shed 0.28 percent or 6.77 points to finish at 2,429.33 and the Nasdaq was off by 0.33 percent or 20.63 points at 6,275.06.
Safe haven assets gained, with spot gold hitting a seven-week high. Spot gold traded at $1,293.96 at 6:50 a.m. HK/SIN. U.S. Treasury yields also fell to their lowest since last November, with 10-year Treasurys falling as low as 2.129 percent overnight. The 10-year yield last traded at 2.1451 percent.
The dollar index fell to its lowest in seven-months, trading as low as 96.517 overnight.
Oil prices gained slightly overnight as markets continued to digest the news that several Arab nations, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) severed diplomatic ties with Qatar. U.S. crude settled higher by 79 cents at $48.19 a barrel and Brent crude added 65 cents to settle at $50.12.
The complex dispute is front-and-center for oil markets after comments by President Donald Trump lauding Saudi Arabia for the move and as offers of mediation by Turkey and Kuwait seek to calm the waters with Qatar a host to U.S. Central Command forces.
On the economic calendar today are Australia Q1 GDP due at 9:30 a.m. HK/SIN and China forex reserves for the month of May is expected at 11 a.m.
