Dollar below a one-week high, Asian stocks mixed

The dollar traded little changed at 147.41 yen, while the euro and sterling were flat at $1.1647 and $1.3458, respectively

The U.S. dollar hovered below a one-week high on Thursday and Asian stock markets were broadly mixed as investors braced for three days of potentially market-moving news from the Federal Reserve’s annual symposium in Jackson Hole.

Nikkei dropped 0.6% in the morning session, declining further from the record high hit on Tuesday.

Despite a tech-led selloff on Wall Street overnight, Japanese chip stocks were mixed, with Advantest 3% higher, while Tokyo Electron declined 2%.

KOSPI rose 0.9% after slipping to a six-week low on Wednesday. Australia’s benchmark added 0.6% and renewed an all-time high.

Mainland Chinese blue chips added 0.5%, although Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was largely flat.

U.S. stock futures pointed lower, with Nasdaq futures sagging 0.2% and S&P 500 futures dropping 0.1%. Overnight, the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.7% and the S&P 500 cash index slid 0.2%.

There remains a bearish skew for equities at the moment, said Kyle Rodda, an analyst at Capital.com.

Equity prices are beginning to reflect the risk of disappointment at Jackson Hole, with doubts circulating about whether the Fed will pivot as aggressively in the dovish direction implied by rates markets – or even pivot at all, Rodda added.

The U.S. currency has largely taken the latest developments in stride though, and the dollar index was steady at 98.252 on Thursday, after rising to the highest since August 12 at 98.441 a day earlier.

The dollar traded little changed at 147.41 yen.

The euro and sterling were flat at $1.1647 and $1.3458, respectively.

In cryptocurrency, bitcoin continued to claw its way back from a 2-1/2-week low hit Wednesday at $112,386.93, rising up to around $114,690.

Gold dropped slightly to around $3,342 per ounce.