SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific looked set for a lower start on Tuesday following big losses overnight on Wall Street that saw the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropping more than 4%.
Futures pointed to a lower open for Japanese stocks. The Nikkei futures contract in Chicago was at 26,060 while its counterpart in Osaka was at 26,010. That compared against the Nikkei 225’s last close at 26,319.34.
Australian stocks were also poised to open lower, with the SPI futures contract at 7,003, against the S&P/ASX 200’s last close at 7,120.70.
Investors will be watching for moves of technology shares in Asia-Pacific after the Nasdaq Composite dropped 4.29% to 11,623.25.
Other major indexes on Wall Street also saw substantial losses, with the S&P 500 slipping 3.2% to 3,991.24 — falling below the 4,000 level for the first time in more than a year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 653.67 points, or 1.99%, to 32,245.70.
Currencies
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 103.651 — off levels above 103.8 seen recently.
The Japanese yen traded at 130.33 per dollar, stronger as compared with levels above 130.5 seen against the greenback yesterday. The Australian dollar was at $0.6955, struggling to recover after last week’s drop from above $0.72.