Asian shares fell Friday, tracking losses on Wall Street after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell indicated increases in interest rates must be faster to fight inflation. The selloff was sparked by comments from Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell, which intensified the belief that the Fed will hit markets with a 50 basis point rate hike when they meet in May. The news caused a spike in Treasury yields and a corresponding drop in equities thats spilled over to the Asian session on Monday.
Major indexes cascaded downward in Asia, with the drop pronounced at nearly 2% in Tokyo. Japans consumer price index data showed an increase for the seventh consecutive month, although the results were within market expectations.
Japan‘s Nikkei is down 1.5% in early trade, although the Yen is weakening versus the U.S. dollar again, which should provide some support for Japan’s export sector. Shares of Softbank Group are trading sharply lower by 4.5%, while Sony is pacing the broader market with a drop of 1.4%. Among the major exporters Toyota is easing lower by 1.1%, Panasonic is 2% lower, and Canon has a 1.3% loss.
Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki made comments seen as a slightly more forceful pushback against “sudden movements” in exchange rates after meeting with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on the sidelines of G20 finance ministers meetings.
While In Australia the S&P/ASX 200 is closed for a holiday, but is likely to reopen on Tuesday to steep losses in reaction to concerns over Chinese demand for Australias natural resources.
Mainland Chinese markets have opened to sharp losses as well, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite trading 1.7% lower, while the smaller cap Shenzhen Composite has a loss of 1.9%. Over in Hong Kong the Hang Seng is pacing the mainland losses with its own drop of 1.7%.
Korean Composite Stock Price Indexes (KOSPI) which refers to a series of indexes that track the overall Korean Stock Exchange and its components is falling 1.2%, while Taiwan‘s Taiex has a substantial loss of 1.8% to lead the region’s drop. Southeast Asian markets are broadly lower as well, with Singapores Straits Times Index losing 0.9%, and the KLCI in Malaysia falling 0.3%.
Leave a Reply