Japan +0.15%. Japan May Retail Sales +5.7% y/y, grow more than expected led by tourism and a consumption boost.
Japan consumer sentiment improves to a 17-month high.
China -0.20%. The most important time of the session was again the People’s Bank of China’s yuan reference rate setting. Expectations for the mid-rate were around 7.2540. The PBOC shrugged those off with a much stronger CNY, setting USD/CNY at 7.2208. Yuan eases despite PBOC’s firmer-than-expected guidance.
Hong Kong -1.46%.
Australia -0.03%. Australia May Retail Sales +0.7% m/m (expected +0.1%).
India market closed.
New Zealand data: June business confidence leapt 13 points in June to -18, and activity also improved from May.
Japan and South Korea are slated to discuss a currency swap deal on Thursday, in what would be their first bilateral finance meeting in seven years.
Markets in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia are closed for the Eid al-Adha holidays.
In the U.S. on Wednesday, all three major indexes fluctuated and ultimately ended mixed. The Dow industrial average was -74.08 points or -0.22% at 33852.67, the S&P index was -1.55 points or -0.04% at 4376.85, and the Nasdaq index was +36.07 points or 0.27% at 13591.74.
Leaders of the world’s top central banks reaffirmed on Wednesday that they think further policy tightening will be needed to tame stubbornly high inflation but still believe they can achieve that without triggering outright recessions. Meanwhile, Powell’s ECB counterpart, Christine Lagarde, said that the European central bank would “very likely hike again in July.”
By contrast, Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda reiterated that “there’s still some distance to go” in sustainably achieving 2% inflation. The BOJ’s dovish policy stance has undermined the yen , which fell 0.1% on Thursday to 144.56 per dollar.
Oil prices eased on Thursday on fears of more rate hikes denting fuel demand. Brent crude futures fell 27 cents, or 0.4%, to $73.76 a barrel by 0052 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures slid 21 cents, or 0.3%, to $69.35 a barrel.
Gold prices lingered near a Mid-March low on Thursday on dollar strength and a hawkish Fed.
Spot gold fell 0.2% to $1,903.19 per ounce by 0340 GMT, near a mid-March low hit on Wednesday. U.S. gold futures fell 0.5% to $1,911.70.
Spot silver saw little change at $22.71 per ounce, while platinum rose 0.2% to $912.52. Palladium rose 0.6% to $1,256.83 per ounce after hitting a 4-1/2-year low in the previous session.
Currencies: (JPY:USD), (CNY:USD), (AUD:USD), (INR:USD), (HKD:USD), (NZD:USD).
U.S. stock futures inched higher on Thursday: Dow +0.02%; S&P 500 +0.02%; Nasdaq +0.06%.
