Although Japanese equity futures were unchanged from the previous session, a rise for contracts suggests that benchmarks will catch up following a holiday. Australian share futures saw a little increase, but Hong Kong share futures saw a decline following a Thursday surge.
Cash Treasuries are back in trade in Asia following Wednesday’s sell-off that sent yields higher. On Thursday, the Bloomberg dollar index dropped as the US dollar lost ground versus the majority of other major currencies. The yields from Australia and New Zealand improved.
The announcement that OPEC+ will have its postponed meeting virtually rather than in person caused oil benchmarks to fall even further. The likelihood of more output reduction has been questioned due to the delay and disagreements among members about quotas.
Inflation and PMI figures for Japan, Taiwan’s money supply, and Malaysia’s consumer prices are among the economic data sets for publication in Asia. The central bank of Sri Lanka is anticipated to lower interest rates in the interim. Later on Friday, manufacturing PMI data will be made public in the US.
Investor attention will also be on China’s real estate market, because earlier this week developer stocks rose on the back of industry-boosting policies.
According to persons familiar with the situation, China may permit banks to provide unsecured short-term loans to qualifying developers for the first time in an attempt to alleviate the nation’s real estate crisis. Property developer stock index, as measured by Bloomberg Intelligence, increased 8.9% on Thursday and is headed for its highest week since December.
A rumour that Germany will suspend debt limitations for a fourth year in a row caused European bonds to plummet on Thursday, raising additional worries about increased borrowing as the euro-area economy contracts.
According to Reuters, Barclays Plc is developing measures to lower expenses by up to £1 billion ($1.3 billion) over a number of years, potentially resulting in the loss of up to 2,000 jobs.