Asian Stock Market: Trades mixed as coronavirus, stimulus updates join pre-NFP caution
- Asian shares grind lower as markets await US employment data.
- Covid news, US infrastructure spending chatters recently weigh on sentiment.
- Tapering tantrums, RBI moves and mixed economics are extra filters.
Asian equities remain depressed, jittery of late, during early Friday as investors cautiously await US jobs report for July. Also challenging the moves could be the taxing comments from the US Senate and the coronavirus updates.
Amid these plays, MSCI’s index of Asia–Pacific shares outside Japan drops 0.17% whereas Japan’s Nikkei 225 adds 0.25% ahead of the European session.
Stocks in China bear the burden of the highest covid infections in the current round while those from Australia manage to remain mildly bid as the latest commentary from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) sounds cautiously optimistic. Further, New Zealand’s NZX 50 drop 0.10% as the odds of an RBNZ rate hike escalate.
It’s worth noting that the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) mixed moves, cut in Repo and a stagnant Reverse Repo, couldn’t save BSE Sensex from declining 0.30% by the press time. Moving on, markets in South Korea and Indonesia also remain mildly offered amid mixed clues, mostly pessimistic.
On a broader front, the US policymakers’ delaying of the stimulus voting to the weekend and multi-day high COVID-19 figures, as well as hawkish Fedspeak, propel the US 10-year Treasury yields and the US Dollar Index (DXY). Against this backdrop, S&P 500 Futures struggles around record top, down 0.07% intraday at the latest.
Looking forward, the US jobs report for July is likely to back the Fed policymakers’ optimism, which in turn could help the US dollar and weigh on the stocks, amid tapering talks. Though, stimulus updates and strong earnings keep buyers hopeful.
Read: Nonfarm Payrolls Preview: Why the dollar could surge in (almost) any scenario