Asian shares dip after Wall Street sell-off
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Singapore — Asia’s stock markets had their worst session in two weeks on Friday after a tech-led plunge on Wall Street, though gains in safer assets such as bonds and dollars were muted as investors awaited US job data to see if it triggers a bigger sell-off.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.6% and looked set for a 2.4% weekly loss, its biggest since April.
Japan’s Nikkei dropped 1%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.8% and Australia’s ASX 200 2.8%.
That was shallower than the 5% plunge on the tech-heavy Nasdaq overnight or the S&P 500’s 3.5% drop. Those were the steepest Wall Street losses since June, but traders said a correction was overdue given recent frothy gains.
“It was steady rather than panic selling throughout,” said ING’s regional head of research Rob Carnell.
“It just doesn’t sound or feel like anything other than a bit of profit taking ... if this was a massive risk-off move, you’d have expected the dollar to rally, and it didn’t really.”
The focus is on US payrolls figures due at 12.30pm GMT, which are seen as a possible selling trigger if it disappoints economists’ expectations that about 14-million jobs were created in August.
Futures traded under pressure but backed off early-session lows in Asia. Nasdaq 100 futures were last down 1.3% while S&P 500 futures were down 0.3%. Dow futures were flat.
The dollar was steady, but a drop in the euro over the past few days on talk that the European Central Bank is concerned about its strength had the greenback eyeing its best week in more than two months against a basket of currencies.
The euro seems to have arrested its slide for now, and sat at $1.1852. The Antipodeans were under gentle pressure while the yen was steady at 106.16/$.
Bonds pared what was a modest rise overnight, given the sell-off in the equity market. Benchmark US 10-year bond yields rose 1.5 basis points on Friday, having fallen about 3 basis points overnight.
Tech tumble
Thursday’s tumble was the biggest one-day percentage drop on the tech-focused Nasdaq 100 since March and the darling stocks of recent months were hit hardest.
Apple fell 8%, Tesla 9% and Microsoft 6%. Still, the plunge only wound the Nasdaq back as far as where it sat last Tuesday. It is still up 28% for the year so far and 73% ...
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.6% and looked set for a 2.4% weekly loss, its biggest since April.
Japan’s Nikkei dropped 1%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.8% and Australia’s ASX 200 2.8%.
That was shallower than the 5% plunge on the tech-heavy Nasdaq overnight or the S&P 500’s 3.5% drop. Those were the steepest Wall Street losses since June, but traders said a correction was overdue given recent frothy gains.
“It was steady rather than panic selling throughout,” said ING’s regional head of research Rob Carnell.
“It just doesn’t sound or feel like anything other than a bit of profit taking ... if this was a massive risk-off move, you’d have expected the dollar to rally, and it didn’t really.”
The focus is on US payrolls figures due at 12.30pm GMT, which are seen as a possible selling trigger if it disappoints economists’ expectations that about 14-million jobs were created in August.
Futures traded under pressure but backed off early-session lows in Asia. Nasdaq 100 futures were last down 1.3% while S&P 500 futures were down 0.3%. Dow futures were flat.
The dollar was steady, but a drop in the euro over the past few days on talk that the European Central Bank is concerned about its strength had the greenback eyeing its best week in more than two months against a basket of currencies.
The euro seems to have arrested its slide for now, and sat at $1.1852. The Antipodeans were under gentle pressure while the yen was steady at 106.16/$.
Bonds pared what was a modest rise overnight, given the sell-off in the equity market. Benchmark US 10-year bond yields rose 1.5 basis points on Friday, having fallen about 3 basis points overnight.
Tech tumble
Thursday’s tumble was the biggest one-day percentage drop on the tech-focused Nasdaq 100 since March and the darling stocks of recent months were hit hardest.
Apple fell 8%, Tesla 9% and Microsoft 6%. Still, the plunge only wound the Nasdaq back as far as where it sat last Tuesday. It is still up 28% for the year so far and 73% ...