Asia-Pacific markets mostly fall as investors assess Japan's trade data and Trump's plans for Powell

Asia-Pacific markets mostly fell Thursday, with investors assessing the fall in Japan's exports for the second consecutive month, as well as 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 a meeting with Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa 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.”

Trump also reiterated at the same meeting that a 25% tariff would apply to Japanese imports, saying he does not expect to reach a broader deal with the country.

Here are today's highlights and a live snapshot of how markets are faring:

• Trading in Japan's Seven & i Holdings halted on Couche-Tard's withdrawal of $47 billion acquisition bid
• Japan's exports fall for the second consecutive month

Asia-Pacific markets start the day mixed

Asia-Pacific markets opened mixed Wednesday.

As of 8.11 a.m. Singapore time (8.11 p.m. ET), Japan's Nikkei 225 benchmark fell 0.6% while the broader Topix index ticked down 0.11%.

In South Korea, the Kospi index dropped 0.26% while the small-cap Kosdaq was flat.

Over in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 benchmark added 0.35%.

Japans exports fall for second straight month with no U.S. trade deal in sight, raising recession fears

Japan's exports in June contracted 0.5% year over year, extending the 1.7% drop seen in May as deliveries continued to decline for the second straight month.

The decrease in exports was a reversal of the 0.5% rise expected by economists polled by Reuters, and comes amid a lack of a breakthrough in trade talks with the U.S.

Exports to China, Japan's largest trading partner, were down 4.7%, while exports to the U.S. declined by 11.4% year over year, deepening from the 11% fall in May.

Read the full story, here.

Trading in Japans Seven & i halted after Couche-Tard withdraws $47 billion bid to acquire the retailer

The Japan Exchange Group imposed a trading halt on Seven & i Holdings for the 7-Eleven owner to confirm the authenticity of media reports on the withdrawal of an acquisition proposal.

Canadian retailer Alimentation Couche-Tard announced Wednesday that it was withdrawing its $47 billion takeover offer for the company, saying there was a “persistent lack of good faith engagement.”

“There has been no sincere or constructive engagement from 7&i that would facilitate the advancement of any proposal, contrary to comments made publicly by 7&i representatives,” Couche-Tard wrote in a statement.

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.