Sydney, Nov. 15 (BNA): Asian stock markets were mixed and oil was weaker as investors sought to digest the economic impacts of China’s coronavirus policy adjustments and a bailout package for the country’s ailing real estate sector.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.1%, after moderate losses in the United States overnight, according to Reuters.
Australian shares lost 0.28%, while Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.16%.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng was flat while China’s CSI300 was down 0.3%.
Some Chinese cities have begun to cut routine community testing, days after China announced the easing of some harsh coronavirus measures. However, at the same time, the number of coronavirus cases in the country increased.
Chinese real estate stocks were giving back some of the sharp gains they made the day before in the rescue package.
Industrial output rose 5.0% in October from a year earlier, slowing from the 6.3% pace in September while retail sales fell 0.5%, the first drop since May when Shanghai was under a citywide lockdown. Analysts had expected retail sales to rise by 1.0%.
Oil fell amid concerns that China may impose more lockdowns in some cities. US crude fell 0.43% to $85.43 a barrel, while Brent crude fell 0.2% to $92.81.
China reported 17,909 new COVID-19 infections on November 14, compared with 16,203 the previous day.
Chinese President Xi Jinping met US President Joe Biden at the G-20 meeting in Bali on Monday night, but the talks failed to spark significant reactions in financial markets.
In Asian hours, bitcoin rose 1.1% to $16,593. US regulators have opened investigations into the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange while other major crypto exchanges scrambled to reassure investors of their stability in the FTX fallout. Bitcoin is still down 64.2% so far in 2022.
US inflation remains at the forefront of many global investors’ minds as they await PPI data later on Tuesday.
The dollar rose 0.34% against the yen, to 140.15. It is still some distance from this year’s high of 151.94 on Oct. 21.
The single European currency fell 0.1% to $1.0317, after rising 4.4% in one month, while the dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of other major trading partner currencies, was largely flat at 106.99.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield rose to 3.8686% compared to Monday’s US close of 3.867%.
The two-year yield, which rose as traders expected higher federal funds rates, was 4.4014% compared to the US close of 4.408%.
Gold is down slightly, with spot gold trading at $1,768.22 an ounce.
FAE