Asia markets set to open mostly lower as investors assess U.S. court ruling on Trump tariffs

Asia-Pacific markets were poised to open mostly lower Monday as investors assess a U.S. federal appeals court ruling that most of U.S. President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal tariffs are illegal.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held Friday ruled that Trump had overstepped his presidential authority by imposing levies on virtually every country in the world as part of his April 2 “liberation day” announcement.

Investors will also be assessing the developments in India and China relations, after leaders from both countries agreed that they are development partners, not rivals during a two-day meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation regional security bloc. Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to deliver a speech at the summit.

Investors are also awaiting the country’s August private survey manufacturing data that’s set to be released today.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 was set to open lower, with the futures contract in Chicago at 42,215 while its counterpart in Osaka last traded at 42,100, against the index’s Friday close of 42,718.47.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was set to start the day lower, with futures tied to the benchmark at 8,912, compared with the index’s last close of 8,973.10.

Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 25,319, pointing to a stronger open compared with the HSI’s last close of 25,077.62.

Over in Wall Street, stocks fell Friday as new inflation data showed rising prices was still a risk heading into the new month.

The broad-based S&P 500 ended the day 0.64% lower at 6,460.26, but still scored its fourth winning month in a row. The Nasdaq Composite shed 1.15% to finish at 21,455.55, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 92.02 points, or 0.20%, to settle at 45,544.88.

— CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Brian Evans contributed to this report.