Asian markets set for mixed open, as investors digest US services PMI miss.
MILLIONadCLICKS — Futures suggest a mixed open for Asian share, after Wall Street’s closed higher on the “bad news is good news” mindset with the U.S. ISM services index miss.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 futures in Chicago were flat, while Osaka futures were down 0.82 percent. The benchmark index’s previous close was at 17,081.98.
Down Under, the S&P/ASX 200 futures slid 0.2 percent, compared to the index’s last close at 5,413.6. The Australian benchmark index is likely to get a boost, however, from the rally in commodity prices.
“BHP’s ADR gained 3.2 percent and CBA’s gained 2 percent, which actually points to potentially a better session today than the SPI futures are currently suggesting,” said Angus Nicholson, a market analyst at spread-bettor IG, said in a note Wednesday.
The U.S. Institute for Supply Management (ISM) non-manufacturing purchasers manager index (PMI) index fell 51.4 last month from 55.5 in July, the lowest reading since February 2010.
The miss, along with Friday’s disappointing nonfarm payrolls, is likely to cut back expectations of a Federal Reserve rate hike in September.
“While it’s all fun and games to see highly respected analysts’ calls for September rate hikes get roundly pummeled by the data, the turn in the data is actually very concerning,” Nicholson said. “These sorts of unanimous collapses in the manufacturing and non-manufacturing ISM PMIs rarely occur and often bode serious ill for the US economy,” he added.
The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 0.25 percent, the S&P 500 closed up 0.3 percent and the Nasdaq composite closed up 0.5 percent.
U.S. crude oil futures settled up 0.9 percent at $47.26 a barrel, while Brent settled up 0.8 percent at $47.26, paring back its gains from the 5 percent jump on Monday in the Europe session on news of Saudi Arabia and Russia’s oil cooperation.
Markets will likely watch for Australia second-quarter gross domestic product data, China’s August foreign exchange reserves, Malaysia’s central bank rate decision and the U.S. Fed Beige Book.
