Tokyo, Sept. 19 (BNA): Asian shares sank on Tuesday as worries about the Chinese property sector weighed on markets from Hong Kong to Australia, while Japanese investors sold chip stocks on their return from a holiday-extended weekend.
Benchmark U.S. Treasury yields hovered near 16-year peaks and the dollar held close to six-month highs as traders braced for a Federal Reserve rate decision on Wednesday, in a week that also sees policy decisions from the Bank of Japan and Bank of England, among others, Reuters reported.
Crude oil continued its rally amid tightening supply, stoking worries about stagflation.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares slipped 0.3%.
Japan’s Nikkei tumbled 1.1% under the weight of big losses for chip-related stocks including Tokyo Electron and Advantest.
Japanese markets were closed Monday, when Asian tech stocks sold off following a Reuters report that TSMC had asked its major vendors to delay deliveries.
That stock sank 0.4% on Tuesday, flipping from an earlier gain of as much as 0.6%. It tumbled 3.2% on Monday.
John Pearce, CIO at Unisuper, called the TSMC news “surprising.”
“The one thing you were almost certain of was that demand for semiconductors was only one way,” he said.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 0.1%, with a subindex of tech stocks sliding 0.6%. An index of mainland blue chips fell 0.3%.
Chinese property stocks were volatile, with a subindex of Hang Seng developers dropping as much as 1.2% at one point, before flipping to positive territory around lunchtime, although it was last off 0.4%.
Australia’s stock benchmark dropped 0.4%, sagging under the weight of mining stocks amid pessimism over Chinese demand.
Providing some rays of hope, though, Country Garden won approval from creditors to extend repayment on another onshore bond, the last in the batch of eight bonds it has been seeking extensions for, sources said.
Peer Sunac China Holdings got creditor approval for its $9 billion offshore debt restructuring plan, the first green light of a debt overhaul by a major Chinese developer.
Weakness in Asian equities weighed on U.S. stock futures , which pointed 0.1% lower. Pan-European Stoxx 50 futures were flat.
Currency markets were subdued, with the U.S. dollar index – which measures the currency against six major peers – rising 0.09% to 105.17, edging back toward last week’s six-month peak of 105.43.
The dollar added 0.1% to 147.75 yen , bringing it closer to last week’s 10-month top of 147.95.
The euro eased 0.1% to $1.0679.
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