The Reserve Bank of India xxxx rates August 6, 2023 as inflation cools in the world’s fifth-largest economy.
Punit Paranjpe | Afp | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets opened lower on Thursday as Wall Street declined overnight, while investors assessed trade data from Japan and awaited India’s rate decision.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.60%, while the S&P 500 declined 0.77%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.05%. All indexes had been up earlier in the session before Nvidia and other big technology stocks fell.
Global equities and currencies plunged earlier this week after the Bank of Japan hiked interest rates to their highest levels since 2008, and the U.S. released weaker-than-expected employment numbers.
On Thursday, investors in Asia will assess trade data from Japan and interest rate decision from the Reserve Bank of India.
Japan’s current account figure for June came in at 1.533 trillion yen, lower than the 1.789 trillion yen expected by economists polled by Reuters.
The Reserve Bank of India is expected to hold rates steady at 6.5% for a ninth straight meeting.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 opened 1.8% lower, while the broad-based Topix dropped over 1%.
South Korea’s Kospi was down 1%, while the small-cap Kosdaq dipped more than 1%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.3% at open.
The Hong Kong Hang Seng index futures were at 16,735, lower than the HSI’s last close of 16,877.86.
—CNBC’s Brian Evans and Hakyung Kim contributed to this report.
