Japanese stocks climbed earlier but amid a pullback in gold, the risk mood sort of adjusted a little in trading today as Asian equities also pare some of its earlier gains.

The Nikkei is finishing the day lower while the Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite are both sitting up by ~0.4% currently. Elsewhere, S&P 500 futures are trading at flat levels after having observed about a 14 points gain earlier in Asia Pacific trading.

In the currencies space, the dollar is keeping slightly firmer but gains aren’t really too significant for the time being. EUR/USD is lower at around 1.1740, while USD/JPY is hovering close to 107.50 as we look towards the start of the European session.