- Earnings from Amazon, Apple lift Nasdaq futures by 1.1%
- Nikkei heads for 16% monthly gain, best since 1990
- Chinese shares lose ground after trade truce, dismal PMI data
- Dollar near 3-month highs, oil down for three months
SYDNEY, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Asian shares looked set for a seventh straight month of gains on Friday after upbeat earnings from Amazon and Apple buoyed Wall Street futures, while the dollar hovered near three-month highs on uncertainty over further Federal Reserve rate cuts.
European stock futures were, however, bracing for a lower open, with EURO STOXX 50 futures down 0.2% and FTSE futures 0.3% lower.
Nasdaq futures jumped 1.1% and S&P 500 futures gained 0.6% as Amazon's stellar earnings sent its shares up a staggering 13% after the bell, which added over $300 billion to its market value. Apple rose 2.3% after its outlook on iPhone sales topped estimates.
That offset the drag from Meta and Microsoft overnight amid worries over their surging AI spending. Six of the "Magnificent Seven" U.S. tech megacaps have now reported and the results have been mixed. Nvidia, the world's first $5 trillion company, is due to report in three weeks.
"Profit growth in tech companies remains incredibly strong but will moderate, so tech stocks are likely to have a bit of a pullback especially on high valuations," said Diana Mousina, deputy chief economist at AMP.
"Despite some wobbles recently, Mag 7 U.S. tech stocks have still outperformed the S&P 500 since the beginning of the year."
Japan's Nikkei rallied 1.9% on Friday, boosting its weekly and monthly gains to 6% and 16.4%, respectively. That was the largest monthly rise since 1990, turbocharged by hopes for aggressive fiscal stimulus under new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.4% on Friday, weighed by losses in Chinese stocks. Still, the index was poised for a weekly gain of 1% and a monthly rise of 4%.
Chinese blue chips skidded 1.2% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.9% after data showed China's factory activity contracted at the fastest pace in six months in October.
Investors also locked in gains after a trade truce reached by U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday, which led to reduced U.S. tariffs on imports of Chinese goods, resumed U.S. soybean purchases by Beijing and continued rare earth exports from China.
This week, major central bank meetings have delivered decisions that were largely in line with expectations, with the biggest surprise coming from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell who pushed back against the market's sanguine view about a rate cut in December.
Treasuries were steady on Friday, but were set for weekly losses. Two-year Treasury yields were flat at 3.6085%, having risen 12 basis points this week already, while the 10-year yield was steady at 4.0969% and up 10 bps for the week.
The rise in yields offered support to the U.S. dollar , which was holding near three-month highs at 99.5 against its major peers, although resistance seems heavy at 99.564 and 100.25.
The euro was flat at $1.1569 after the European Central Bank kept interest rates unchanged at 2% for the third meeting in a row on Thursday and repeated that policy was in a "good place" as economic risks recede.
Oil prices fell and were headed for a third straight month of declines as a stronger dollar capped commodities gains and rising supply from major producers offset the impact of Western sanctions on Russian exports.
Brent crude futures slipped 0.9% to $64.55 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $60.10, down 0.8%.
Spot gold prices retraced some of the overnight gains and were down 0.3% to $4,008 per ounce. They were down 2.5% for the week and well below the record high of $4,381 hit just last week.
Reporting by Stella Qiu; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Kim Coghill
Source: Reuters