Currencies, oil, Wall Street, stock debut

SINGAPORE — Shares in the Asia-Pacific region were set to open lower on Friday after a choppy trading week.

In Japan markets, the Nikkei futures contract in Osaka was at 26,150, pointing to a slightly lower open. The Nikkei 225’s last close was at 26,171.25 on Thursday.

Australia’s SPI futures were at 6,416, lower than the S&P/ASX 200‘s last close at 6,528.4. The New Zealand market is closed for a holiday on Friday.

Core consumer prices in Japan rose 2.1% for the month of May compared to a year earlier, in line with estimates, according to Reuters. That’s above the Bank of Japan’s target of 2% inflation. However, consumer prices only rose 0.8% if fresh food and energy was taken out, Reuters said.

Looking ahead, logistics company GoGoX is set to start trading on the Hong Kong market. The Reserve Bank of Australia’s governor, Philip Lowe, is also set to speak on inflation later in the day.

Overnight in the U.S., stocks rose in a late-day rally amid recession fears. Several large banks this week raised their expectations of a recession.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 194.23 points, or 0.64%, to 30,677.36. The S&P 500 advanced 0.95% to 3,795.73, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.62% to 11,232.19.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 104.431.

The Japanese yen strengthened to 134.86 per dollar, recovering from the 136 levels against the greenback earlier this week. The Australian dollar was at $0.6905, having mostly been on a weakening trend this week.