The equity market got off to a good start this week with data projections in the Asia Pacific region set to be positive even though investors were a bit jittery ahead of the release of the FOMC meeting minutes which will have an impact on last week's Wall Street rally.
The main focus this week is focused on the minutes of the FOMC meeting which will be published on Thursday, expected to confirm the strengthening of the hawkish tone of the Federal Reserve (Fed) in its rate hike to fight inflation.
In addition, this week there is also the release of data from retail giants of the United States (US) including Walmart Inc and Target Corporation.
However, the positive sentiment this morning was driven by the data release factor in China which is expected to be good, further confirming the strengthening of the Great Wall country's economy after 2 years of being closed due to Covid-19.
The streak, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.53% while Topix added 0.23% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.36%.
The MSCI Asia Pacific index of shares outside Japan was up 0.1% at the open for this.
Meanwhile, Dow Jones Industrial, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite futures were down around 0.2% after rallying last week.
Currency trends showed the dollar index down 0.8% against a number of other currencies with risk sentiment recovering.
The euro traded at $1.0259 after bouncing 0.8% last week while the Japanese yen was 1% weaker at 133.36.
As for commodities, oil prices declined as investors cautiously assessed developments in the nuclear deal between Europe and Iran.
As a result, Brent crude was down 43 cents at $97.72 while US crude fell 36 cents at $91.73.
