Asia-Pacific stocks set for mixed start; Australia’s April trade data ahead

Asia-Pacific stocks set for mixed start; Australia’s April trade data ahead

SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific declined in Thursday trade, with Australia's April trade data expected later in the day. The in Japan shed 0.52% in early trade while the Topix index fell 0.65%. South Korea's dipped 0.8%. In Australia, the shed 0.46%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.34% lower. Oil drops more than 2% Oil prices were lower in the morning of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark down 2.3% to $113.62 per barrel. dropped 2.45% to $112.44 per barrel. Those losses came after the if Russian output declines. That comes after European Union leaders agreed earlier this week to . Australia is set to release its April trade data at 9:30 a.m. HK/SIN on Thursday. Ahead of the data release, the changed hands at $0.717, off levels above $0.72 seen recently. Overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 shed 0.75% to 4,101.23. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 176.89 points, or 0.54%, to 32,813.23. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shed 0.72% to 11,994.46. Currencies The , which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 102.556 after a recent jump from below 102. The traded at 130.19 per dollar, weaker as compared with