Japanese stocks lose some steam after early gains
The Nikkei pushed higher early on as stimulus hopes kept markets more buoyant over the past two days, but gains were pared amid some profit-taking ahead of the weekend. Elsewhere, the Hang Seng is trading closer to flat levels as well currently.
US futures are still keeping higher, with S&P 500 futures seen up ~0.5%.
That in turn is keeping the dollar slightly on the softer side ahead of European trading, with EUR/USD keeping around 1.1770 levels and NZD/USD just above 0.6600.
Meanwhile, gold is also trading up by 0.8% above $1,900 but is running into some technical resistance for the time being.
