Asia-Pacific stocks set for opening slip; Australia’s trade data for June ahead

Asia-Pacific stocks set for opening slip; Australia’s trade data for June ahead

SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific were relatively muted in Thursday morning trade, following declines overnight on Wall Street that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping more than 300 points. Japan's gained 0.15% in early trade while the Topix index was largely flat. South Korea's edged around 0.1% higher. In Australia, the was little changed. Australia's trade data for June is set to be out at 9:30 a.m. HK/SIN on Thursday. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded around the flatline. Overnight stateside, the Dow dropped 323.73 points to 34,792.67 while the S&P 500 slipped 0.46% to 4,402.66. The Nasdaq Composite outperformed as it rose 0.13% to 14,780.53. The moves on Wall Street came after jobs data from payroll processing firm ADP came in well below expectations. The a gain of 330,000 jobs for July, well below the consensus estimate of 653,000. The more closely watched Labor Department nonfarm payrolls release is set to be out on Friday. Currencies The , which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 92.28 following a recent bounce from below 92. The traded at 109.51 per dollar following a weakening yesterday from levels below 109 against the greenback.