Asian shares and US futures are mixed, while oil prices creep higher
BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares and U.S. futures were mixed Tuesday after markets on Wall Street were closed for the Labor Day holiday.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 gave up early gains, falling 0.3% to 66,170.34 after the government reported that the economy grew at a slightly faster annual pace in the April-June quarter than earlier reported, at 1.4%. Earlier, the Cabinet Office had estimated the annualized growth rate at 1.1%.
The revision reflects stronger business investment than earlier reported, though overall investment still contracted, at minus 0.9%, Norihiro Yamaguchi of Oxford Economics said in a commentary.
“The boost to consumption from policy measures seen in April-May is already fading, and supply-side driven inflation will accelerate ahead as firms will pass on increased costs, deteriorating consumers’ purchasing power,” he said.
Early Tuesday, the U.S. dollar slipped to 153.47 Japanese yen from 154.34 yen. The yen has surged in value against the dollar in the past few days on expectations that the U.S. and Japanese governments might intervene to prevent the yen from weakening further. Last week, the dollar briefly rose to about 160 yen.
South Korea’s Kospi led regional gains on sustained buying of computer chipmakers, climbing 1% to 7,060.79. Shares in Samsung Electronics were up 2.9% while memory chipmaker SK Hynix picked up 5.3%.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.4% to 25,312.10, and the Shanghai Composite index edged 0.1% higher, to 3,938.33.
China said its exports jumped 25% year-on-year in August, driven by strong demand for autos and high tech items.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.8% to 8,937.90.
On Friday, the S&P 500 lost 0.4% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5%. The Nasdaq composite gave back 0.3%.
Wall Street will get important updates about inflation this week. The U.S. will release its August report for inflation at the wholesale level, called the Producer Price Index, or the PPI, on Thursday. It provides details on prices for businesses before they pass along the costs to consumers.
On Friday, the U.S. will release its better-known Consumer Price Index, for August. The CPI is closely watched and provides details on price changes for specific grocery items, furniture, and clothing, among other categories. It also details price changes for services ranging from car maintenance to travel and restaurant dining.
In energy markets early Tuesday, Brent crude, the international standard, added 71 cents to $97.74 a barrel as tensions simmered in the six-month U.S. war with Iran.
Benchmark U.S. crude surged 1.8% to $93.13 a barrel.
In other currency dealings, the euro was unchanged at $1.1624.
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AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him in Hong Kong and Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo contributed to this report.
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