Asia-Pacific markets set to open lower, tracking Wall Street losses

Asia-Pacific markets set to open lower, tracking Wall Street losses


Sunset scene of light trails traffic speeds through an intersection in Gangnam center business district of Seoul at Seoul city, South Korea

Mongkol Chuewong | Moment | Getty Images

Asia-Pacific markets were set to open lower Friday, tracking Wall Street declines as investors assess the state of the economy.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index was set for a lower open, with its futures contract in Chicago trading at 48,705, and its counterpart in Osaka at 48,520, against the index’s last close of 48,580.44.

Australia’s ASX/S&P 200 lost 0.26%.

Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index pointed to a lower open, trading at 26,354, against the index’s previous close of 26,752.59.

Overnight, the three major averages declined. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite pulled back from fresh all-time intraday highs on Thursday, with both indexes taking a breather from their gains in the previous session as the U.S. government shutdown continues.

The broad market index dropped 0.28% to close at 6,735.11, while the tech-heavy index slid 0.08% to finish at 23,024.63. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, meanwhile, declined 243.36 points, or 0.52%, to close at 46,358.42.

— CNBC’s Alex Harring and Sean Conlon contributed to this report.



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