Asian Stock Market: Fedspeak, coronavirus woes portray sluggish moves
- Asian equities dribble as mixed domestic catalysts, stimulus hopes battle tapering tantrums, covid jitters.
- China, Australia and Japan register multi-day high virus infections.
- Indonesia GDP marks first expansion in five quarters, Aussie Trade Balance improves in June.
- BOE, qualitative factors in focus ahead of the key Friday.
Asian shares trade mixed, mostly pressured, ahead of Thursday’s European session open amid anxious markets ahead of the key data/events of the week.
That said, MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan drops 0.10% intraday whereas Japan’s Nikkei 225 rises 0.45% by the press time.
Read: S&P 500 Futures recapture 4,400, shrug off China crackdown and covid woes
Australia’s ASX 200 cheers better than forecast trade surplus for June, with mild gains, whereas Indonesia’s IDX Composite benefits from strong Q2 GDP data at home. Further, South Korea’s KOSPI also joined the line of printing mild daily gains though there were no major catalysts to spot for the same.
On the contrary, markets in China, New Zealand and India print smaller losses as Fedspeak renews tapering fears and the covid numbers from Beijing, Australia, India and Japan challenge global economic optimism.
It should be noted, however, that expectations of stimulus from the US and the policymakers’ readiness for easy money, amid mixed US data, seem to challenge the market bears. Additionally, pre-BOE caution and risk-aversion ahead of tomorrow’s US Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) restrict the moves of late.
Amid these plays, US Treasury yields and stock futures remain firmer, so does the US Dollar Index (DXY).
Moving on, Wall Street’s reaction to the taper tantrum and covid woes ahead of the US jobs report will be the key for short-term direction. Further, Monetary policy moves of the Bank of England (BOE) and the US second-tier data will be crucial as well.
Read: US 10-year Treasury yields keep rebound from 12-day low amid coronavirus, tapering concerns