Asia stocks slide as weak results halt record Wall Street run, yen holds gains after the Bank of Japan governor downplayed the need for "helicopter money" stimulus, according to Reuters.
European markets are also
likely to open lower, with financial spreadbetter CMC Markets expecting
Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE to open down 0.2 percent, and Germany's DAX .GDAXI and
France's CAC 40 .FCHI to start the day 0.4 percent lower.
MSCI's broadest index of
Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was down 0.4 percent. It
remained close to its nine-month high seen on Thursday, and is headed for a
fractional 0.1 percent gain on the week, ahead of the Group of 20 finance
officials' meeting in Chengdu, China, this weekend.
China's CSI 300 index
.CSI300 and the Shanghai Composite .SSEC both slipped about 0.5 percent. The
CSI 300 is poised for a loss of 1.1 percent for the week, and the Shanghai
Composite 1 percent.
New Zealand .NZ50 shares
continued their record-setting trend, climbing 0.2 percent to hit a fresh
all-time high on Thursday. They're headed for a 2.2 percent gain for the week.
Shares in Taiwan .TWII,
Indonesia .JKSE and Thailand .SETI all closed at their highest levels in at
least a year on Thursday.Australia ended at the highest point since Aug. 6,
2015, and Hong Kong .HSI set a 2016 high. All were trading lower on Friday, but
set to end the week higher.
Japan's Nikkei .N225 closed
down 1.1 percent, dragged down by the yen's 1 percent rally on Thursday. The
index is still up 0.8 percent in a week in which it touched an eight-week high
thanks to an initially weaker yen and hopes of fiscal and monetary stimulus.
In a BBC interview, recorded
mid-June but broadcast on Thursday, BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda ruled out the
idea of using "helicopter money" - directly underwriting the budget
deficit - to combat deflation.
"Pretty much everything
is on the table when it comes to the next BOJ monetary policy decision on 29
July. Everything, that is, except for outright helicopter money," Frederic
Neumann, co-head of Asian economic research at HSBC in Hong Kong, wrote in a
note on Friday. "The case for more easing is evident, and markets are
expecting swift and determined action."
Japan is likely to miss its
deficit-cutting target in 2018 because the government has delayed a sales tax
hike by more than two years, public broadcaster NHK said on Friday, citing an
unidentified source.
The dollar was down 0.1
percent at 105.68 yen JPY= after coming off its peak of 107.49, its highest in
six weeks, the previous day.
The dollar index was also
flat at 96.948 .DXY, compared with its four-month peak of 97.323 scaled on
Wednesday.
The euro was steady at
$1.1020 EUR=. The common currency had briefly risen to $1.1060 on Thursday
after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi noted that growth and
inflation were moving along the path projected in June.
As widely anticipated, the
ECB stood pat on monetary policy on Thursday. But, despite Draghi's statement
that more evidence was needed before any decision, the bank kept the door open
to more policy stimulus, citing "great" uncertainty and risks to the
region's economic outlook.
The Chinese yuan rose
against the dollar for a fourth straight day, on track for its biggest weekly
gain since April, with traders suspecting state-owned banks of supporting the
currency.
The People's Bank of China
set the midpoint rate CNY=SAEC at 6.6669 per dollar, 0.3 percent firmer than
the previous fix of 6.6872. The spot yuan CNY=CFXS opened at 6.6715 per dollar
and strengthened to 6.6692, compared with the previous close of 6.6765.
The Dow Jones Industrial
Average .DJI on Thursday snapped a nine-day winning streak, during which it hit
consecutive record highs, because of disappointing results from Intel and key
transportation companies. [.N]
In commodities, crude
futures resumed declines after a brief spell higher, extending big falls
overnight. Data pointed to record U.S. stockpiles of gasoline and other oil
products, when Iraqi crude exports are on the rise, heightening supply glut
concerns.
Brent crude .LCOc1 reversed
earlier gains to fall 0.3 percent to $46.07 a barrel after tumbling about two
percent on Thursday. It is headed for a 3.3 percent drop for the week. [O/R]
U.S. crude CLc1 fell 0.6
percent to $44.49 a barrel, poised for a 3.2 percent fall in a week in which
they touched a two-month low.
No comments:
Post a Comment