SINGAPORE — Futures in Australia pointed to a lower open Thursday after a better-than-expected inflation report in the U.S. sent stocks spiraling higher.
SPI futures were at 6,950, lower than the S&P/ASX 200‘s last close at 6,992.7.
Japan’s market is closed for a holiday Thursday.
Consumer prices rose 8.5% in July compared to the same period a year ago, a slightly better result than the 8.7% increase that economists polled by Dow Jones were expecting.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average leapt 535.10 points, or 1.63%, to close at 33,309.51. The S&P 500 jumped 2.13% to 4,210.24, and the Nasdaq Composite soared 2.89% to 12,854.80.
In company news, SoftBank Group said it would reduce its stake in Chinese tech giant Alibaba through an early physical settlement of prepaid forward contracts for around 242 million American Depository Receipts. The move would add 4.6 trillion yen ($34.6 billion) to its pre-tax gains, SoftBank estimated.
“By settling these contracts early, SBG will be able to eliminate concerns about future cash outflows, and furthermore, reduce costs associated with these prepaid forward contracts,” the company said in a press release.
“These will further strengthen our defense against the severe market environment.”
Separately, Apple supplier Foxconn on Wednesday posted results that beat expectations, but was cautious on the outlook.
Currencies
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 105.196 after a sharp fall overnight following the U.S. inflation report.
The Japanese yen traded at 132.88 per dollar, after strengthening sharply. The Australian dollar was higher at $0.7081.
