SINGAPORE — Shares in Australia declined in Monday morning trade, with major markets in Asia closed for holidays.
The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia fell 1.29%, with shares of major miners declining: Rio Tinto dropped 2.64%, Fortescue Metals Group declined 2.95% while BHP slipped 3.01%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.38% lower.
It’s set to be a relatively quiet trading day ahead regionally, with markets in mainland China, Japan and South Korea closed on Monday for holidays.
Over on Wall Street, stocks have struggled in the seasonally weak month of September, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average seeing three straight weeks of losses — its first in 2021.
Investor focus for the week will likely be on the U.S. Federal Reserve’s upcoming September meeting for clues on the central bank’s tapering of its easy monetary policy.
Currencies and oil
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 93.234 after a recent jump from below 93.
The Japanese yen was at 110.02 per dollar, having weakened last week from below 109.6 against the greenback. The Australian dollar traded at $0.7263, following its slip from above $0.736 last week.
Oil prices were lower in the morning of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures slipping 0.27% to $75.14 per barrel. U.S. crude futures shed 0.29% to $71.76 per barrel.
Source: CNBC