Home World Australia stocks set for lower start; bitcoin bounces back

SINGAPORE — Shares in Australia looked set to to slip at the Thursday open, with markets in Japan closed for a holiday.

Futures pointed to a lower open for Australian stocks. The SPI futures contract was at 7,290 as compared with the S&P/ASX 200’s last close at 7,308.70.

Concerns over the coronavirus situation in Asia-Pacific may continue to weigh on regional sentiment on Thursday. Australia’s two largest states on Wednesday reported sharp increases in new Covid infections, while Indonesia saw record high deaths from the virus, according to Reuters.

Markets in Japan are closed on Thursday for a holiday.

Meanwhile, the price of bitcoin rebounded after recently falling below the $30,000 mark. It traded at $32,086.50 as of 7:33 p.m. ET Wednesday, according to Coin Metrics.

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Overnight stateside, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 286.01 points to 34,798 while the S&P 500 rose 0.82% to 4,358.69. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.92% to 14,631.95.

Currencies

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 92.754 after a recent fall from above 93.

The Japanese yen traded at 110.26 per dollar, weaker than levels below 109.5 seen against the greenback earlier this week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7355, above levels below $0.732 seen yesterday.

Source: CNBC

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