Australian shares set to trade cautiously as markets in China, Japan remain shut

Australian shares set to trade cautiously as markets in China, Japan remain shut

A man looks at an electronic board displaying stock information at the Australian Securities Exchange in Sydney, Australia, on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018.

SINGAPORE — Futures tied to Australia's benchmark index pointed to a slightly lower open on Wednesday while some of the other major Asia-Pacific markets are closed for the day.

SPI 200 futures were down 0.37% at 7,009 compared to the ASX 200's last close at 7,067.90.

Wednesday's session in Asia follows an overnight session on Wall Street where the S&P 500 fell amid selling in Big Tech and other high-growth stocks while the Nasdaq Composite registered its worst day since March.

"Equities traded defensively amid declines in technology stocks and comments from Yellen that the Fed may need to raise interest rates somewhat to prevent the economy from overheating," analyst at ANZ Research wrote in a morning note.

"There is some concern that the best of the improvement in US earnings may have already occurred after the weaker April ISM manufacturing survey. The reality is that data can't continuously improve at the pace it did in March and April, but underlying growth is expanding rapidly," they added.

Markets in China and Japan remain closed for public holidays. South Korean markets are also shut.