Tech leads Asia stock selloff, yen gains

[Pelican Press 0]

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Tech leads Asia stock selloff, yen gains

Tech shares led a selloff in stock markets around Asia, while the yen and US bonds rebounded, as global investors struggled to find their footing in a wild week for markets.

Japan’s Nikkei share average was last down 1.0 per cent, having earlier slumped as much as 2.5 per cent, with chip-sector shares the biggest drag on the index. That left the Nikkei down more than 3.0 per cent for the week, following Monday’s 12.4 per cent plunge, despite the ensuing two-day rebound.

Elsewhere, Taiwan’s tech-heavy stock benchmark sagged 2.0 per cent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.0 per cent.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares declined 0.8 per cent.

“Today’s Asia session could be important, as many had bought the dip with the hope that we see real follow-through buying and the upside momentum building,” said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone.

“It’s clear that we have not been given all clear just yet.”

Wall Street futures were weak, with S&P 500 futures down 0.24 per cent and Nasdaq futures off 0.14 per cent following respective declines for the cash indexes of about 0.8 and 1.1 per cent on Wednesday.

Pan-********* STOXX 50 futures sagged 1.2 per cent.

The yen generally benefits when market sentiment sours, and appreciated as much as 0.86 per cent to 145.43 per dollar before last trading about 0.3 per cent stronger at 146.17. The Swiss franc, another traditional haven, added 0.3 per cent to 0/8592 per dollar.

The dollar-yen pair also tends to be sensitive to moves in long-term US Treasury yields, which retraced about half of their overnight jump to 3.977 per cent and last stood at 3.92 per cent in ****** hours.

The dollar index, which measures the currency against the yen, franc, euro and three other major peers, was down slightly at 103.09, while the euro gained a touch to $US1.0925 ($A1.6748).

Currencies, and the yen in particular, have been upended by a shift last week toward bets for steady interest rate increases by the Bank of Japan and aggressive cuts by the Federal Reserve, which helped send the dollar as low as 141.675 yen on Monday for the first time since the start of this year.

Weekly US jobless claims data later in the day could prove market moving following soft monthly payrolls figures on Friday that exacerbated fears of a US economic downturn.

Meanwhile, crude oil continued its rise following data the previous day that showed a *******-than-expected draw in US crude stockpiles.

Brent crude futures rose 0.3 per cent to $US78.56 ($A120.43) a barrel, following Wednesday’s 2.4 per cent jump. US West Texas Intermediate crude gained 0.4 per cent to $US75.52 ($A115.77), building on a 2.8 per cent rally from overnight.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

#Tech #leads #Asia #stock #selloff #yen #gains

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up