Asian stocks fall despite the strength of Wall Street; oil retreats



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By Andrew Galbraith

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Asian stock markets weakened on Wednesday amid South Korea's losses and uncertainty over China's economic stimulus plans as the economy shows signs of recovery .

The widest MSCI index in the Asia-Pacific equities market outside Japan fell 0.3%, wiping out the gains recorded in the wake of record Wall Street closing records over the period. of the night.

European indices should also weaken.

At the start of European trading, the Euro Stoxx 50 pan-European futures were down 0.29% to 3426, the German DAX futures dropped by 0.28% to 12,234 and the FTSE futures contracts by 0, 21% to 7,451.

In Asia, the biggest loser in the region was KOSPI from South Korea, down 1%.

Investors ignored the government's proposed supplementary budget, which was aimed in part at supporting exports, and worried after chip maker, Texas Instruments, said it was expecting a slowdown in the economy. demand for electronic chips lasts a few more quarters.

Samsung Electronics shares fell 1.6%.

"Texas Instruments has posted good results, but has thrown some cold water on what will happen in the second half of the year," said Frank Benzimra, head of Asian equities strategy at Societe Generale.

Chinese equities fluctuated between gains and losses as investors wondered whether Beijing would slow down its easing after stronger-than-expected economic growth in the first quarter.

The CSI300 first order index was down about 0.1% after an earlier fall of 1.3%.

China's central bank should pause to assess economic conditions before taking action to ease lenders' reserve requirements, after growth data has reduced the urgency to act, insiders said politics.

Australian stocks outperformed the rest of the region, peaking at over 11 years after posting a 1.1% jump, following the sharp slowdown in Australian inflation that had increased the probability of a fall in inflation. a reduction in interest rates.

Australia's annual CPI inflation fell to 1.3% in March from 1.8% in the previous period, its lowest level since 2016.

The Japanese Nikkei stock index ended down 0.3%.

The mixed day in Asia came after the optimistic earnings of Coca-Cola, Twitter, United Technologies and Lockheed Martin helped the Nasdaq and S & P 500 indexes reach record closing records on Wall Street overnight.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.52% to 26,647.97%, the S & P 500 rose 0.91% to 2,934.31 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.35% to 8,123.25.

Analysts said that in addition to corporate profits better than feared, a more favorable political environment helped boost risk appetite.

"The Fed has been joined by major central banks around the world, a trend that broadly reflects the real concern not to let countries and the world sink into recession," said Greg McKenna. , strategist at McKenna Macro in Australia, said in a note to customers.

But after rising early on Wednesday, the S & P 500 e-mini stock futures fell 0.12% to 2,934.5.

Equity market gains were boosted on Tuesday by rising shares in energy after Brent, the world benchmark, hit its highest level since Nov. 1.

Oil prices rose after the US ended six months of waivers that allowed Iran's eight largest buyers, mostly in Asia, to continue importing limited volumes of Iranian oil. .

Gulf OPEC members stated that instead of offsetting any deficit resulting from the US waiver decision, they would only increase their production if there was demand.

On Wednesday, the Brent yielded gains, down 0.34% to 74.26 dollars per barrel. US crude plunged from $ 0.39 to $ 66.04 a barrel.

STEEPER YIELD CURVE

US Treasury yields declined in line with most Asian equities. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yielded 2.5541%, versus a US closing of 2.57% on Tuesday, while the two-year yield was down to 2.3458% versus a close close to 2,364% in the United States.

While US Treasury yields have declined, an acceleration of the US yield curve has given rise to persistent bullish prospects for the US economy.

The gap between the two and ten-year Treasury bill yields widened to 21.5 basis points on Wednesday morning, a new record for the year. It stood at 20.6 basis points.

The yield curve is accentuated when long-term yields rise faster than short-term yields, suggesting a bullish sentiment among investors.

The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback versus a basket of six major rivals, remained unchanged at 97.644, close to the highest in the last 22 months, after good housing data in the United States.

The dollar was 0.4% lower against the yen at 111.81, while the euro fell 0.14% to buy $ 1.209.

The spot gold price fell about 0.2% as the dollar strengthened, with an ounce reaching $ 1,269.92. [GOL/]

(Report by Andrew Galbraith, edited by Richard Borsuk and Darren Schuettler)

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