Asian equities are marginally down paring sharp losses on Monday as hope emerged for a diplomatic solution to the Russian-Ukraine standoff.
Earlier U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to hold summit on Ukrainian crisis.
The CSI 300, HSI, KOSPI and TOPIX trading marginally down by 0.58%, 0.54%, 0.26% and 0.66% respectively.
The S&P 500 stock futures to reverse out of early losses to trade 0.4% higher. Nasdaq futures edged up 0.2%, having been down more than 1% earlier.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan are down by 0.96%.
Headwind also lies ahead of the market this week as U.S. core inflation data is due out later this week and is forecast to show an annual rise of 5.1% – the fastest pace since the early 1980s.
“January inflation readings have surprised materially to the upside,” noted JPMorgan chief economist Bruce Kasman.
“We now look for the Fed to hike 25bp (basis points) at each of the next nine meetings, with the policy rate approaching a neutral stance by early next year.”
At least six Fed officials are set to speak this week and markets will be hyper-sensitive to their views on a possible hike of 50 basis points in March.
Oil suffered heavy loss amid signs of progress on a an Iran deal which could release more supply in the market. The WTI is down by 0.37% to $90.73 per barrel while Brent is down by 0.59% to $92.96 per barrel.
