Futures pointed to a lower open in Asia, following the fall in tech stocks on Wall Street and the surprise hung parliament result from the U.K. election last Friday and as markets await the results of the first round of France’s parliamentary elections.
Stocks in Japan looked poised to fall. Nikkei futures in Chicago were off 0.27 percent at 19,960 and Osaka futures were down 0.57 percent at 19,900. Both were lower than the Nikkei 225’s last close of 20,013.26.
Markets in Australia, Malaysia and the Philippines are closed today for public holidays.
Stateside, stocks closed mixed in the last session, with tech stocks under pressure after hitting record highs at the beginning of the session. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.42 percent or 89.44 points to close at 21,271.97, the S&P 500 shed 0.08 percent or 2.02 points to finish the session at 2,431.77 and the Nasdaq tumbled 1.8 percent or 113.85 points to end at 6,207.92.
The dollar was slightly weaker against a basket of six major currencies after hitting a ten-day high last week. The dollar index traded at 97.232 at 6:35 a.m. HK/SIN. Dollar/yen traded at 110.41, higher than levels around the 109 handle seen most of last week.
Pound sterling remained soft after falling as much as 2.5 percent to trade at a low of $1.2632 after the U.K. election resulted in no party being able to claim a majority at parliament. Cable traded at $1.2737 at 6:32 a.m. HK/SIN.
In energy news, oil prices rose in the last session following news of a pipeline leak in Nigeria, but finished last week down by around 4 percent. Brent crude rose 29 cents to settle at $48.15 a barrel and U.S. West Texas International crude added 19 cents to settle at $45.83.
A barrage of data is expected through the trading day, with Japan machinery orders for the month of April due at 7:50 a.m. HK/SIN. Singapore April retail sales is due at 1:00 p.m. and China new yuan loan numbers for May are expected at 3:00 p.m. India will report April industrial production figures and May CPI data at 8:00 p.m.