Asia-Pacific stocks set for mixed start as investors monitor Chinese tech stocks

SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific looked set for a mixed Friday start, following overnight losses on Wall Street that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average declining for the fourth straight day.

Futures pointed to a lower open for Japanese stocks. The Nikkei futures contract in Chicago was at 29,925 while its counterpart in Osaka was at 29,920. That compared against the Nikkei 225's last close at 30,008.19.

Australian stocks, on the other hand, appeared poised to rise. The SPI futures contract was at 7,391, against the S&P/ASX 200's last close at 7,369.50.

Regulatory concerns surrounding sectors such as video games and private education could continue weighing on Chinese stocks in Hong Kong on Friday. The South China Morning Post on Thursday reported that the Chinese government will slow its approval for all new online games in the country, sending gaming stocks tumbling.

Meanwhile, the European Central Bank announced Thursday a slowing in the pace of net asset purchases under its pandemic emergency purchase program.

Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 151.69 points to 34,879.38 while the S&P 500 shed 0.46% to 4,493.28. The Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.25% to 15,248.25.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 92.479 after falling earlier in the week from above 92.7.

The Japanese yen traded at 109.78 per dollar, stronger than levels around 110.4 seen against the greenback earlier this week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7367 following a decline from above $0.744 seen earlier in the trading week.