Hong Kong, Sep 16 (BNA): Asian stocks gave up early gains to fall again on Thursday, weighed by declines in China and Hong Kong, even after a strong advance from Wall Street also pushed the dollar lower. end of its last range.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.45%, while Japan’s Nikkei was down 0.47%, after hitting a 31-year high on Monday.
“It’s a bit choppy and uncertain right now, we’ve had a few soft days on the back of concerns about global growth and then all of a sudden the markets, at least the US markets, have concluded that it’s not that bad after all,” Shane Oliver said. , chief economist at AMP Capital, Reuters reported.
He added that concerns about inflation and supply chain issues may affect stocks in the coming weeks, and “of course in Asia we have a slowdown in China.”
There were gains on Thursday in Australia, up 0.65%, but the Hong Kong benchmark fell 0.42% as property names continued to slide – beleaguered developer China Evergrande Group slid another 8%
Chinese blue chips lost 0.66%, after a day of economic data that came in below expectations.
US stock futures, S&P 500 e-minis were flat.
US stocks closed higher overnight, as higher crude oil prices boosted energy stocks, and a batch of positive US data supported those who feel growth in the world’s largest economy should remain strong.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.68%, the S&P 500 rose 0.85% and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.82%.
This risk-taking mood pushed the dollar lower overnight against a basket of other major currencies, but was little changed in Asian hours, as analysts at Westpac said the dollar was eyeing its latest range.
They said the payroll and inflation data means the US Federal Reserve may take its time to scale back its massive asset purchases – which would normally boost the dollar – while “the downside is unlikely to develop anytime soon either, with concerns about the delta impact ( (coronavirus variant) on global recovery prospects continues to rise, as confirmed by China’s weaker activity data for August.”
US Treasury yields are down in Asian trading hours with the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield at 1.299% compared to the US close at 1.304%. Westpac analysts said that, too, seems likely to be highly limiting.
Oil prices fell, giving up some of the strong gains made this week on the back of a larger-than-expected drop in US crude oil inventories.
Brent crude, which touched its highest level since late July on Wednesday, fell 0.24 percent on Thursday to $75.3 a barrel, while US crude fell 0.22 percent to $72.45 a barrel.
Spot gold settled at $1,794.41 an ounce, after dropping below the key $1,800 level on Wednesday, affected by a bout of technical selling.
HF