Asia-Pacific markets set to mostly open higher as investors assess Trump's plans for Powell

Asia-Pacific markets are set to mostly rise Thursday, with investors assessing U.S. President Donald Trump's denial of his intent to fire Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve chairman.

The U.S. President on Wednesday denied the possibility of such a move, hours after he told a room full of Republican lawmakers that he would fire Powell.

“We're not planning on doing it,” he said at the White House. “I don't rule out anything,” he added, “but I think it's highly unlikely, unless he has to leave for fraud.”

Here are the opening calls for the day

Good morning from Singapore.

Investors will be keeping a close watch on a slew of data points from the Asia-Pacific region today, including Japan's trade figures, Singapore's non-oil domestic exports numbers as well as Australia's employment print for the month of June.

Economists polled by Reuters expect Japan's trade balance to come in at 353.9 billion yen ($2.39 billion) surplus, better than the revised 638.6 billion yen deficit it recorded in May.

Meanwhile, separate polls by Reuters show that Singapore's non-oil were forecast to grow 5% year on year in June, from a contraction of 3.5% in May.

Australia's unemployment rate was expected to hold steady at 4.1% in June.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 was set to open lower, with the futures contract in Chicago at 39,545 while its counterpart in Osaka last traded at 39,540, against the index's Wednesday close of 39,663.40.

Futures for Hong Kong's Hang Seng index stood at 24,576, pointing to a stronger open compared to the HSI's last close of 24,517.76.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was also set to start the day higher with futures tied to the benchmark at 8,588, compared with its last close of 8,561.80.

U.S. futures slip following rally on Trumps denial that he plans to fire Powell

U.S. equity futures fell in early Asia hours after U.S. President Donald Trump denied his plans to fire Jerome Powell from his position as Federal Reserve chairman.

S&P 500 futures lost 0.17%, while Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 0.18%. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell nearly 80 points, or 0.18%.

Stocks end Wednesday in the green

Wednesday saw a volatile trading session that ended with a major rebound in U.S. equities.

The S&P 500 added 0.32% to close at 6,263.70. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 231.49 points, or 0.53%, ending at 44,254.78. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.26% to settle the session at 20,730.49, notching its ninth record close.