A pedestrian and jogger pass the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) building, during a partial lockdown imposed due to the coronavirus, in Sydney, Australia, on Monday, May 18, 2020.
David Gray | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets are set to fall, tracking similar moves on Wall Street after the S&P 500 erased earlier gains that brought the benchmark index to trade at its highest level on an intraday basis in nine months.
Markets are “catching their breath after Friday’s broad-based rally,” said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at the Carson Group. “It’s a very lackluster news day, which isn’t a bad thing as we consolidate some of those big recent gains we’ve had.”
Stocks in Australia were set to fall, with futures for the S&P/ASX 200 at 7,188, lower than the index’s last close of 7,216.3 ahead of the country’s central bank rate decision. The Reserve Bank of Australia is expected to hold rates at 3.85%, according to a Reuters poll.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 is set to continue its run above the 32,000 mark, with the futures contract in Chicago at 32,070, and its counterpart in Osaka at 32,120 against its last close at 32,217.43.
The last time the Nikkei traded at these levels, Japan was in the middle of its bubble economy — a period from 1986 to 1991 where real estate prices and stock prices were hugely inflated. The Nikkei reached its all-time high of just above 38,900 in December 1989.
