SINGAPORE — Shares in Japan were set to open lower on Tuesday, with Chinese search giant Baidu set to make its debut in Hong Kong.
Futures pointed to a lower open for Japanese stocks. The Nikkei futures contract in Chicago was at 29,095 while its counterpart in Osaka was at 29,110. That compared against the Nikkei 225’s last close at 29,174.15.
Shares in Australia inched higher, with the S&P/ASX 200 rising fractionally.
In corporate developments, Baidu’s stock is set to begin trading in Hong Kong on Tuesday, with shares priced at 252 Hong Kong dollars (about $32.45) each. The firm joins a long list of U.S.-listed Chinese tech companies that have done secondary offerings in Hong Kong, including Alibaba and JD.com.
Tech stock watch
Meanwhile, technology stocks in Asia-Pacific will be watched by investors after their counterparts stateside rallied overnight amid declining bond yields, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumping 1.23% to close at 13,377.54.
Other major indexes on Wall Street also rose on the day: The S&P 500 advanced 0.7% to 3,940.59 while the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 103.23 points to 32,731.20.
The moves stateside came as the 10-year Treasury yield declined 5 basis points to around 1.68% (1 basis point equals 0.01%), following a 14-month high touched last week. It last stood at 1.6946%.
Currencies
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 91,742 — still above levels below 91.5 seen last week.
The Japanese yen traded at 108.80 per dollar, stronger than levels above 108.90 against the greenback seen last week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7736, still off levels above $0.78 seen last week.
— CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal contributed to this report.
Source: CNBC