Asia-Pacific stocks set for lower start ahead of China and U.S. inflation data

SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific appeared set for a lower start on Friday as investors look ahead to the release of May inflation data from China and the U.S.

Futures pointed to a lower open for Japanese stocks. The Nikkei futures contract in Chicago was at 28,085 while its counterpart in Osaka was at 27,980 — lower than the Nikkei 225’s last close at 28,246.53.

Australian stocks also looked poised to open lower, with the SPI futures contract at 6,964.0, against the S&P/ASX 200’s last close at 7,019.70.

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Currencies

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 103.223 after recently crossing the 103 level.

The Japanese yen traded at 134.44 per dollar, struggling to recover after weakening from levels below 132 against the greenback earlier this week. The Australian dollar was at $0.71 following a recent drop from above $0.714.

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