Asian stocks fell for a fifth day after US shares declined in an echo of the prior session as concern over American regional banks outweighed better-than-expected technology earnings.
(Bloomberg) — Asian stocks fell for a fifth day after US shares declined in an echo of the prior session as concern over American regional banks outweighed better-than-expected technology earnings.
The drop places a gauge of Asia Pacific equities on course for its longest run of daily losses this year, as shares fell in Australia and fluctuated in Japan and China.
Futures contracts for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 both edged up in Asia after results from Meta Platforms Inc. beat analyst estimates, pushing its shares 11% higher in after-hours trading. Upbeat earnings from Alphabet Inc. and Microsoft Corp. this week boosted the Nasdaq 100 Index Wednesday.
In Asia, a record quarterly loss in Samsung Electronics Co.’s chip division weighed on its shares. Nomura Holdings Inc. stock also fell after the Japanese bank reported a slump in profits. Earnings reports due later today include BYD Co., the electric carmaker, China Life Insurance Co. and Fujitsu Ltd.
Sylvia Sheng, multi-asset strategist for JPMorgan Asset Management, said the fund manager anticipates China’s economic rebound to flow through to corporate profits in the months ahead.
“We do think that should be coming through given how strong the recovery momentum has been for the first quarter,” she said in an interview on Bloomberg Television.
The yen stayed in a narrow range as the Bank of Japan began a two-day policy meeting, the first with Kazuo Ueda as governor. The dollar weakened versus most of its Group-of-10 peers.
Treasuries edged up in Asia as investors waited for US GDP and jobless claims to gauge the strength of the US economy. The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, the core PCE deflator, is also due Friday.
Bank Woes
The potential for a tightening of credit conditions linked to the banking turmoil may prompt the Fed to adjust the pace of its interest-rate increases, Evercore ISI’s head of central bank strategy Krishna Guha wrote in a note, citing issues at First Republic Bank. The US regional lender faces potential curbs on borrowing from the Fed.
“We cannot rule out the possibility developments around First Republic could unfold in a manner that would lead the FOMC to skip May, while signaling a hike in June,” Guha said.
Elsewhere in markets, oil inched higher after a Wednesday fall, gold edged up and Bitcoin resumed an advance.
Here are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
- S&P 500 futures rose 0.2% as of 12:11 p.m. Tokyo time. The S&P 500 fell 0.4%
- Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.5%. The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.6%
- Japan’s Topix was little changed
- Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.4%
- Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.1%
- The Shanghai Composite rose 0.3%
- Euro Stoxx 50 futures fell 0.3%
Currencies
- The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
- The euro was little changed at $1.1052
- The Japanese yen was little changed at 133.56 per dollar
- The offshore yuan was little changed at 6.9351 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
- Bitcoin rose 1.7% to $28,906.7
- Ether rose 1.8% to $1,900.01
Bonds
- The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined one basis point to 3.44%
- Australia’s 10-year yield advanced four basis points to 3.34%
Commodities
- West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.2% to $74.42 a barrel
- Spot gold rose 0.5% to $1,998.83 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
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