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Sunday, September 2, 2018

Asia markets set for cautious September start after US and Canada fail to reach trade deal

Asia markets are set for a cautious open on the first trading day of September after Canada and the U.S. failed to come to a trade agreement on Friday.

Nikkei futures in Chicago were at 22,820 while Osaka futures were at 22,840. The index last closed at 22,865.15.

In Australia, SPI futures were at 6,330.0, compared to the ASX 200's last close at 6,319.5.

Over on Wall Street, stocks saw their best August performance in years. That came despite the United States' trade tensions with multiple countries.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended Friday down by 22 points, but was still up 2.1 percent for the month. The S&P 500 closed 0.01 percent higher that day and was up by 3 percent for the month. Both the Dow and S&P 500 recorded their best performances for the month of August since 2014. The Nasdaq Composite saw even greater gains, closing Friday 0.26 percent higher and ending the month over 5.7 percent up — its best performance for August since 2000.

Despite those gains, investors are still keeping a close eye on the negotiations between Washington and many of its top trading partners. After going past a U.S.-imposed deadline last Friday for Canada to join a trade deal that had been reached between the U.S. and Mexico, more talks between Ottawa and Washington are set to continue this week.

U.S. President Donald Trump notified Congress last Friday that he wants to sign a trade agreement with Mexico, and potentially Canada, in 90 days — the legal period required for a deal to be reviewed.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies, was at 95.175 as of 6:57 a.m. HK/SIN.

The Japanese yen was down against the dollar at 111.17 yen while the Australian dollar was largely flat at $0.7186 as of 7:00 a.m. HK/SIN.

Here's a look at the day ahead:

  • Australia: July retail sales at 9:30 a.m. HK/SIN
  • China: Caixin August manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index at 9:45 a.m. HK/SIN

– CNBC's Fred Imbert contributed to this report.

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