Asian stock markets slip in holiday-thinned trade
TOKYO: Asian shares struggled on Thursday after a lacklustre performance on Wall Street as investors looked to US economic data later in the day for potential catalysts, as markets wind down ahead of the holidays.
The subdued mood was expected to carry over into European trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 index could edge down 0.1-0.2 per cent, based on last prices for futures on the index. Spreadbetter IG predicted Germany’s DAX would open 0.2 per cent lower.
MSCI’s broadest index of AsiaPacific shares outside Japan erased early modest gains and slipped 0.5 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei stock index finished 0.1 per cent lower, edging down from this week’s one-year highs.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 0.7 per cent after touching its lowest levels since July, though Australian shares ended up 0.5 per cent, extending gains into a fourth straight session.
US stocks, which have been on a tear since the November 8 election on bets that the incoming administration of Donald Trump will embark on growthstimulating policies, pulled back from the record highs logged in the previous session.
“There weren’t any major marketmaking data points coming out, and I think that’s why the markets are kind of taking a breather,” said Jennifer Vail, head of fixed income research at US Bank Wealth Management in Portland, — Oregon.
Later on Thursday, the United States will release a third revision of US third quarter gross domestic product.
“It could be a volatile day if it comes in either substantially stronger or substantially weaker,” she said.
Durable goods orders for November and weekly initial jobless claims were also scheduled to be released.
Thin liquidity could also amplify moves, with many investors already departing ahead of this weekend’s Christmas holiday. Markets in Tokyo will be closed on Friday for the Japanese Emperor’s birthday.
The dollar edged up 0.1 per cent against its Japanese counterpart to 117.67 yen, but remained shy of its 10½ month high of 118.66 touched on December 15.
Japan’s cabinet approved on Thursday a record $830 billion spending budget for fiscal 2017 that counts on low interest rates and a weak yen to limit borrowing, underscoring the challenge Tokyo faces in curbing the industrial world’s heaviest debt burden.
The euro was up 0.2 per cent at $1.0439, not far from Tuesday’s low of $1.0352, which was the single currency’s deepest nadir since January 2003 as it came under pressure from the ascendant dollar and fears over Italy’s bank crunch.
Troubled bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena expects to burn through around 11 billion euros of liquidity more quickly than previously forecast, an updated document on the bank’s website showed on Wednesday.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six rival currencies, slipped 0.1 per cent to 102.960 , as investors stepped back after its rise to a 14-year peak of 103.650 earlier this week.
“There’s a lot of year-end bookclosing and position-squaring, and less in terms of data and events to go on,” said Mitul Kotecha, head of FX strategy at Asia-Pacific for Barclays in Singapore.
“So all of that suggests we might see more consolidation going through the year-end,” he said.
Crude oil prices erased earlier gains, facing pressure from a report showing a surprise build in US crude inventories last week, as well as news that Libya expects to boost production over the next few months.
The contract roll on Wednesday for front-month US crude to the higherpriced February from lower-priced January pushed US crude up about 0.5 per cent. But it was last down 0.1 per cent at $52.44 per barrel. Brent crude fell 0.1 per cent to $54.43.
Spot gold edged down 0.1 per cent to $1,130.44 an ounce, though its losses were limited as the US dollar retreated from this week’s highs.