Asia-Pacific markets set to open mixed as weak private sector hiring in the U.S. dents investor sentiment
Buena Vista Images | Photodisc | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets were set to mostly fall Thursday, after private sector hiring in the U.S. hit its lowest level in over two years, raising concerns that trade policy uncertainty could be weighing on the superpower's economy.
A report from payrolls processing firm ADP showed that payrolls rose only 37,000 for the month, less than the downwardly revised 60,000 in April and below the consensus forecast of 110,000 that economists polled by Dow Jones had forecast.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 was set to fall at the open, with the futures contract in Chicago at 37,550 while its counterpart in Osaka last traded at 37,560 against the index's Wednesday close of 37,747.45.
Futures for Hong Kong's Hang Seng index stood at 23,666 pointing to a flat open. HSI had closed at 23,654.03 in the previous session.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was set to start the day higher, with futures tied to the benchmark at 8,564, compared to its last closer of 8,541.80
Investors will be keeping a close watch on Indian markets as the Reserve Bank of India starts its two-day policy meet, with markets expecting the central bank to cut its benchmark interest rate by a quarter-percentage point to 5.75% on Friday.
— CNBC's Pia Singh, Sean Conlon and Sarah Min contributed to this report.
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