ECONOMY
On Thursday , Asian were subdued after a negative performance on Wall Street, with caution ahead of business surveys in Europe and Japan, and the Good Friday and Easter holidays keeping investors on the sidelines.
Investors’ immediate focus turned to the release of Purchasing Managers Indexes (PMIs) for the manufacturing and service sectors in Europe later on Thursday to provide more clues on the strength of the euro zone economy.
Attorney General William Barr is set to hold a news conference at 1330 GMT to discuss the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential race.
On Wednesday, Wall Street shares ended in the red , with the S&P 500 falling 0.2% as a drop in healthcare equities outweighed upbeat economic data from the United States and China. The U.S. trade deficit fell to an eight-month low in February as imports from China plunged, data on Wednesday showed.
Washington and Beijing set a tentative timeline for a fresh round of face-to-face meetings ahead of a possible signing ceremony in late May or early June, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
At least five million Indians lost their jobs between 2016 and 2018, and young urban men are being hit hardest, a Bengaluru-based private university said in a report on Tuesday.
CURRENCY
The dollar index held steady at 97.019 after ending the previous session basically unchanged.
Yen was slightly up at 112.00 yen per dollar, sitting just above a near four-month low of 112.17 brushed overnight.
The euro ticked up to $1.129.
Australian dollar was 0.14% lower at $0.7188 ahead of job data.
COMMODITY
Oil prices were slightly lower as U.S. government data overnight showed inventories drew down less than an industry report had suggested on Tuesday. U.S. crude was last down 8 cents at $63.68 a barrel, while global benchmark Brent crude futures dipped 7 cents to $71.55.
Spot gold held steady at $1,274.60 per ounce, hovering near its lowest for the year.
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