People look at the city’s skyline from the Bunkyo Civic Center Observation Deck in Tokyo on August 14, 2024.
Philip Fong | AFP | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets are set to open lower on Monday, tracking losses on Wall Street after a weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs report.
U.S. nonfarm payrolls rose by 142,000 missing a 161,000 gain estimated by economists polled by Dow Jones. On the other hand, the unemployment rate edged down to 4.2%, in line with expectations.
Traders in Asia will also look toward Japan’s revised GDP figure for the second quarter and China’s consumer price index report coming Monday. Economists polled by Reuters expect Japan’s economy to grow by 0.8% compared to the previous quarter and 3.2% on an annualized basis.
China’s inflation rate is expected to grow 0.7% in August from a year ago compared to 0.5% in July.
Futures for Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 stood at 7,883, lower than its last close of 8,013.4.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 futures pointed to a softer open for the market, with the futures contract in Chicago at 35,240 and its counterpart in Osaka at 35,150 compared to the previous close of 36,391.47. Based on the Osaka futures level, the Nikkei is expected to fall 3.5% at the open.
Hong Kong Hang Seng index futures were at 17,443, lower than the HSI’s last close of 17,444.3.
On Friday, the S&P 500 notched its worst week since March 2023. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite recorded its worst week since March 2022.
During Friday’s session, the broad index slid 1.73% while the Nasdaq slid 2.55%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.01%.
—CNBC’s Samantha Subin and Pia Singh contributed to this report.
