Asian Stocks Mostly Down as China Tech Sold Off: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) — Stocks in Asia are mostly under pressure as a tech-led selloff in Chinese shares intensified. The dollar rose to the level where it began the week.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The MSCI AC Asia Pacific Index fell as much as 1.3%. Benchmarks for Hong Kong and mainland stocks dropped, with a gauge of Chinese tech firms facing its worst day in about two weeks. The selling came after Tencent Holdings Ltd. pledged to dole out $20 billion of stock in meal delivery giant Meituan.

A warning by China’s central bank of rising inflation also hurt sentiment. Separately, Chinese regulators asked banks to report on liquidity after a bond rout. The offshore yuan fell to the lowest against the dollar since Nov. 10.

US equity futures increased marginally, after a decline Wednesday in the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 amid indications from Federal Reserve officials that policy would tighten policy further. Shares in Australia and Japan climbed.

A closely watched section of the US yield curve remained near levels not seen in four decades — a sign of investor concern about the world’s biggest economy.

Benchmark 10-year government bond yields in Australia and New Zealand fell. Treasury yields climbed slightly after moves on Wednesday that widened the difference between long-date and short-dated bonds to levels not seen since the early 1980s, underscoring concerns about the risk of recession.

The action Treasuries followed the biggest increase in eight months for US retail sales, outpacing estimates and indicating Fed tightening has further to run to stymie inflation. San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly said a pause in rate hikes was “off the table,” and New York Fed President John Williams said the central bank should avoid incorporating financial stability risks into its considerations.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its forecast for peak US interest rates to 5.25% at the top of the range, up from the previous call 5%.

“Every time equity and bond markets are thinking the Fed is done and start taking off in a rally, the Fed gets out and starts talking that back down again,” Cheryl Smith, economist and portfolio manager for Trillium Asset Management, said on Bloomberg Television.

The price of West Texas Intermediate crude fell to the lowest level in three weeks.

Elsewhere, European Central Bank policy makers may slow down their tempo of rate hikes, with only a 50 basis-point increase next month, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Key events this week:

Eurozone CPI, Thursday
US housing starts, initial jobless claims, Thursday
Fed’s Neel Kashkari, Loretta Mester speak, Thursday
US Conference Board leading index, existing home sales, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

Futures on the S&P 500 rose 0.1% as of 2:13 p.m. Tokyo time. The S&P 500 fell 0.8%
Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.2%. The Nasdaq 100 fell 1.5%
The Topix Index rose 0.1%
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 0.2%
The Hang Seng Index fell 2.5%
The Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.9%
Euro Stoxx 50 futures fell 0.1%

Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.3%
The euro fell 0.2% to $1.0371
The Japanese yen was little changed at 139.57 per dollar
The offshore yuan fell 0.5% to 7.1418 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin was little changed at $16,527.63
Ether was little changed at $1,206.07

Bonds

Commodities

West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.4% to $84.40 a barrel
Spot gold fell 0.7% to $1,761.63 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

–With assistance from Rheaa Rao.