In Asia, the Friday lead from Wall Street will likely be overshadowed by the North Korea news at the market open. Futures implied a lower open for Japanese equities. Nikkei futures traded in Chicago were down 0.72 percent at 19,550 compared to the benchmark index’s previous close of 19,691.47.
Down Under, SPI futures were mostly flat, trading just 0.01 percent lower at 5,725 compared to the S&P/ASX 200’s last close of 5,724.592.
Malaysia and Vietnam markets are closed for public holidays.
Meanwhile, U.S. markets will be closed Monday for Labor Day.
In corporate news, Malaysia’s Petroliam Nasional Berhad, or Petronas, said on Saturday it was not interested in acquiring a majority stake in Dae Woo Engineering & Construction, Reuters reported. South Korean media had reported that Petronas was interested in the deal on Friday.
On the energy front, the Brent contract for November delivery slid 11 cents to settle at $52.75 a barrel, according to Reuters. U.S. West Texas Intermediate added 6 cents to settle at $47.29 a barrel.
U.S. gasoline prices declined 2 percent on Friday after climbing above $2 a gallon last week, Reuters said.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, stood at 92.671 at 7:15 a.m. HK/SIN.
The economic calendar for Monday is fairly light, with the only notable data release being Indonesia August CPI due at 12:00 p.m. HK/SIN.
— CNBC’s Leslie Shaffer contributed to this report.
