(Bloomberg) — Asian equities fell Thursday, continuing a bout of volatile trading as investors digest signals from central banks on the path ahead for interest rates.
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Japan’s Topix Index dropped alongside benchmarks in Australia, South Korea, Taiwan and China, with tech giants in the region among the hardest hit. A region-wide gauge of the tech sector fell by around 2%, with the likes of SK Hynix Inc. down as much as 4.8% and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. falling as much as 2.8%. That followed a 1.2% drop for the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index on Wednesday.
Global markets have been rocked in the past week as investors prepare for the US and Japanese central banks to move in opposite directions, in turn undermining the yen’s role as a cheap source of funding for financial assets.
The yen resumed its rally on Thursday, having dropped 1.6% against the dollar on Wednesday, when the Bank of Japan’s deputy governor said the central bank would not raise interest rates during periods of market volatility. A Thursday summary of opinions from last week’s BOJ meeting, when it raised rates, showed one member identify the neutral rate at 1%, while another called for timely rate increases to avoid rapid hikes.
The summary “may have triggered some selling at margin, given there was a call to raise interest rates to 1%,” said Kohei Onishi, senior investment strategy researcher at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.
The unspooling of the carry trade has further room to run but the declining velocity of the shift allows investors to breathe “a sigh of relief,” according to Quincy Krosby at LPL Financial. “A softer dollar, driven by the markets perception that the Fed will soon initiate an easing cycle, should help support a stronger yen — a negative for the trade.”
Three quarters of the carry trade has been unwound as the recent slump wiped out all positive year-to-date returns, according to strategists at JPMorgan Chase & Co.
The dollar was slightly weaker Thursday as yields fell in Asian trading, partly reversing moves from the prior session. Lackluster demand for a 10-year Treasury auction and $31.8 billion in debt offerings from blue-chip companies were headwinds.
The Treasury auction result is “consistent with our view that we’re due for a continued correction higher in yield in the near-term,” said Zachary Griffiths, head of US investment grade and macro strategy at CreditSights. “The repricing following what was really just a moderately weak payrolls report seems way overdone.”
US Markets
The S&P 500 closed 0.8% lower as Nvidia Corp. led losses in megacaps. Super Micro Computer Inc. tumbled 20% on disappointing earnings. In late trading, Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., the parent of CNN and TNT, plunged after posting a charge of $9.1 billion as it wrote down the value of its traditional TV networks.
Shares in Sony rallied Thursday after the Japanese consumer electronics company boosted its operating income guidance for the full year.
Markets have been in a tailspin since weak economic data last week fueled worries that the Federal Reserve’s decision to hold rates at a two-decade high is risking a deeper economic slowdown.
JPMorgan economists now see a 35% chance that the US economy tips into a recession by the end of this year, up from 25% as of the start of last month.
“Stocks remain vulnerable,” said Fawad Razaqzada at City Index and Forex.com. “More evidence of a bottom is needed to excite the bulls again. Overall, sentiment remained cagey. Not many people were confident to buy this latest dip, especially with US CPI looming next week.”
Oil climbed as investors remained on edge over the possibility of a retaliatory strike from Iran on Israel. Gold rose for the first time in six sessions.
Key events this week:
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Germany industrial production, Thursday
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US initial jobless claims, Thursday
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Fed’s Thomas Barkin speaks, Thursday
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China PPI, CPI, Friday
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
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S&P 500 futures fell 0.2% as of 10:38 a.m. Tokyo time
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Japan’s Topix fell 0.6%
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Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.6%
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Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1%
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The Shanghai Composite fell 0.3%
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Euro Stoxx 50 futures fell 1.3%
Currencies
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The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
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The euro was little changed at $1.0926
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The Japanese yen rose 0.2% to 146.41 per dollar
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The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.1794 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
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Bitcoin rose 1.2% to $55,831.57
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Ether rose 1.7% to $2,389.45
Bonds
Commodities
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West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.4% to $75.55 a barrel
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Spot gold rose 0.1% to $2,385.85 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
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