BackAsian stocks swing as investors await China data; Japanese shares retreat
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added less than 0.1% to 125.08 in Tokyo after slipping as much as 0.1%
Premium
Asian stocks fluctuated, with the regional benchmark index on course for its worst quarter in four years, as investors awaited data on Chinese industrial profits. Shares in Japan slid.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added less than 0.1% to 125.08 as of 9:04am in Tokyo after slipping as much as 0.1%. The regional gauge has slumped about 15% since the end of June, heading for its worst quarter since 2011, as the Federal Reserve prepares to raise interest rates with financial markets rattled by concern over the depth of China’s economic slowdown. Markets in Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea are closed for holidays Monday, while mainland China will be shut from Thursday for a week-long break.
“Everyone is super-sensitive to China at the moment," Chris Weston, chief market strategist at IG Ltd, told Bloomberg TV. “I’m really specifically looking at US data and how that drives implied probability around Fed pricing" for its first rate increase.
E-mini futures on the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index dropped 0.4%. A 2.7% slump in health-care stocks left the US benchmark index down 0.1% on Friday.
US house speaker John Boehner will resign from Congress at the end of October, following clashes with conservative members of his Republican conference. For some traders, the move reduces the likelihood of a government shutdown as soon as October, while raising the specter of a stalemate later in 2015.
Regional Gauges
Japan’s Topix index lost 0.4% as more than 1,000 of its members traded without the right to receive the next dividend payment. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index dropped 0.1% and New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index gained less than 0.1%.
Futures on the FTSE China A50 Index advanced 0.5% in Singapore, before the cash equity market opens. The Shanghai Composite Index sank 1.6% on Friday to end the week down 0.2%. Bloomberg
Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!
