Nikkei futures pointed to a higher open for the Japanese market, after the benchmark index finished at 19,310.52 in the previous session; Chicago futures traded at 19,380 and Osaka futures were at 19,370.
In Australia, SPI futures traded at 5,945, a touch lower than the ASX 200‘s last finish at 5,956.52. The Reserve Bank of Australia‘s (RBA) monetary policy decision will be in focus today, with most analysts expecting them to stay on hold.
“There’s currently no monetary policy bias built into the RBA futures curve for this year, with less than 2 basis points of easing “priced in” by December, an understandable less than 10 percent chance of a cut,” said David de Garis, director of economics at the National Australia Bank.
Bank earnings are also in focus today.
The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ), one of the country’s so-called Big Four banks, reported 2017 half year results before market open. ANZ said its cash profit for rose 23 percent to 3.41 billion Australian dollars ($2.57 billion) in the six months ended March 31, 2017.
Meanwhile, Singapore’s top lender DBS Group reported first quarter net interest income came in nearly flat at 1.831 billion Singapore dollars ($1.31 billion), down slightly from S$1.833 billion a year ago.
In the currency market, the dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, traded at 99.06, climbing from an earlier low of 98.88.
Among currency majors, the yen traded at 111.79, the euro fetched $1.0904 and the Australian dollar traded at $0.7529.
The Aussie dollar could move depending on the RBA’s stance in the policy statement, according to analysts. Kathy Lien, managing director of foreign exchange strategy at BK Asset Management, said in a note that if the RBA is “less dovish, the Aussie will most likely make a run for 76 (U.S.) cents.”
She added, “if they remain cautious, the currency pair could slip back down towards 0.7450.”
Meanwhile, oil prices fell on Monday with U.S. crude prices down 1 percent at $48.84 a barrel. Reuters reported volume was light and about 336,000 U.S. front-month contracts changed hands, less than the daily average of 520,000 contracts. Prices for global benchmark Brent fell 53 cents to $51.52 a barrel.