Asia-Pacific markets mostly rise as investors weigh recession fears

SINGAPORE — Shares in the Asia-Pacific were set to open lower on Thursday as investors continued to monitor recession concerns.

In Japan markets, the Nikkei futures contract in Chicago was at 26,135, pointing to a lower open compared against the Nikkei 225’s last close at 26,149.55.

In Australia, SPI futures were at 6,412, lower than the S&P/ASX 200‘s last close at 6,508.5.

In economic data, Singapore is set to release its inflation numbers on Thursday.

After a bounce on Tuesday, U.S. stocks traded lower overnight.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 47.12 points, or 0.15%, to 30,483.13. The S&P 500 slipped 0.13% to 3,759.89. The Nasdaq Composite was down 0.15% at 11,053.08.

“Recession or hard landing fears have taken a firmer hold on most markets in the past 24 hours,” Ray Attrill, head of FX strategy at National Australia Bank, wrote in a note.

He said no particular events drove the market moves on Wednesday, and commentators largely pointed to “deepening recession fears.”

Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday told Congress that the central bank is “strongly committed to bringing inflation back down.” Inflation has hit 40-year highs in the U.S.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 104.197.

The Japanese yen traded at 135.92 per dollar. It weakened to 136 against the greenback earlier this week. The Australian dollar was at $0.6910 after falling from above $0.702 last week.