Asia-Pacific markets set for opening declines; China's benchmark lending rate ahead

SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific looked set to drop at the open on Monday, with China set to announce its latest benchmark lending rate later in the day.

Futures pointed to a lower open for Japanese stocks. The Nikkei futures contract in Chicago was at 28,505 while its counterpart in Osaka was at 28,420. That compared against the Nikkei 225's last close at 28,964.08.

Meanwhile, shares in Australia also looked poised to fall at the open. The SPI futures contract sat at 7,168, versus the S&P/ASX 200's last close at 7,368.90.

Looking ahead, China's latest one-year Loan Prime Rate (LPR) is expected to be out at 9:30 a.m. HK/SIN on Monday. Majority of analysts in a snap Reuters poll predicted no change to the one-year Loan Prime Rate as well as the five-year LPR.

Currencies

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 92.241 after a recent climb from levels below 91.2.

The Japanese yen traded at 110.18 per dollar, stronger than levels above 110.5 against the greenback seen last week.

The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7502, still struggling to recover after its fall last week from above $0.768.

Here's a look at what's on tap:

• Australia: Preliminary retail sales data for May at 9:30 a.m. HK/SIN
• China: Latest one-year Loan Prime Rate and five-year LPR at 9:30 a.m. HK/SIN

Read More