In Asia, futures tip Japanese equities to open lower. Nikkei futures in Chicago were down 0.22 percent at 19,865 and Osaka futures were off by 0.44 percent at 19,820. This compared to the Nikkei 225’s last close of 19,908.58.
Australian SPI futures were lower by 0.05 percent at 5,675 against the S&P/ASX 200’s last close of 5,677.804.
Stocks on Wall Street closed lower, with the extended fall in tech stocks weighing on the broader market.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.17 percent or 36.3 points to finish the session at 21,235.67, the S&P 500 closed 0.1 percent or 2.38 points lower at 2,429.39 and the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.52 percent or 32.45 points to end at 6,175.46.
Moving forward, the two-day Federal Open Market Committe (FOMC) meeting is likely to be closely watched as investors await the Federal Reserve’s decision on an interest rate hike. The decision is due Wednesday U.S. time.
In energy news, oil prices inched higher on news of declines in U.S. inventories. Brent crude futures rose 0.3 percent to settle at $48.29 a barrel and U.S. crude added 0.6 percent to settle at $46.08.
The dollar index, which measures the dollar against a basket of rival currencies, traded at 97.138 compared to levels above the 97.2 handle seen in previous sessions. Dollar/yen was also weaker, sinking below the 110 handle to trade at 109.84 at 6:50 a.m. HK/SIN.
Pound sterling tumbled on the back of political uncertainty to trade at $1.2666 compared to levels around the $1.27 handle seen following the U.K. election. Against the euro, the pound traded at $1.1307 — its lowest level since November last year.
Economic data due today includes the NAB’s May business confidence survey results in Australia at 9:30 a.m. HK/SIN and China foreign direct investment numbers for May at 3:00 p.m.