Asian stocks looked poised to open higher Tuesday after technology shares lifted U.S. benchmarks as investors bet on companies that will better weather a patchy economic recovery.

Futures in Japan, Australia and Hong Kong pointed higher. The Nasdaq 100 jumped more than 1% and the Nasdaq Composite capped a seventh straight advance in its longest rally of the year. S&P 500 futures were little changed in Asia after the gauge lagged, with some sectors under pressure as investors weighed the economic impact of virus flareups in some states. The dollar weakened and Treasuries dipped. Gold tested a seven-year high. Crude oil remained above $40 a barrel in New York.

US stocks opened sightly lower on Monday as concerns of a resurgence in coronavirus infections fueled worries of another setback to business activity. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 6.38 points, or 0.02 per cent, at the open to 25,865.08. The S&P 500 opened lower by 3.32 points, or 0.11 per cent, at 3,094.42. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.63 points, or 0.01 per cent, to 9,945.49 at the opening bell.

The Straits Times Index ended the first trading day of the week at 2,629.69, down 5.14 points or 0.2 per cent from Friday, despite optimism for a “sustained rebound” on prospects of an imminent economic recovery by Morgan Stanley Research in a Monday report following the city-state's entry into Phase Two of its reopening last week. Decliners outnumbered gainers 285 to 135, with 1.21 billion securities worth S$1.21 billion traded.

The Singapore Exchange (SGX) on Monday announced that, with Singapore moving into Phase Two of its reopening, issuers and their service providers that are permitted to operate will no longer need to submit a notification to the Ministry of Trade and Industry for a time-limited exemption to hold a general meeting in their physical location.

The board of Noble Group Holdings on Monday evening said that as of the registration deadline of June 19, 2020, shareholders of Old Noble were entitled to receive more than 96 per cent of the shares of Noble under the terms of the court approved restructuring. But shareholders of Old Noble who have successfully completed all four steps of the allocation process and who have had their allocated shares of Noble deposited in their secure online share accounts make up only over 88 per cent of the shares of Noble.

Construction and property development firm BBR Holdings on Monday said that the Covid-19 outbreak has resulted in lower overall business volume for the group, and that it expects a negative impact on the group’s financial performance for the half-year ending June 30, 2020 and full financial year ending Dec 31, 2020.

Source: SGX Masnet, The Business Times, Bloomberg, Channel NewsAsia, Reuters, PSR