Asian shares were mixed as US equity futures rose and Treasuries held their gains from the prior day as investors weighed a cooling American the jobs market and efforts to repair ties between Washington and Beijing.
(Bloomberg) — Asian shares were mixed as US equity futures rose and Treasuries held their gains from the prior day as investors weighed a cooling American the jobs market and efforts to repair ties between Washington and Beijing.
The strongest gains Friday were in Hong Kong-listed technology stocks and Japanese blue chips. Mainland China shares fluctuated while Australian equities fell.
The advance for tech stocks in the Hang Seng Index was helped along by gains for JD.com, which said its finance chief would take on the chief executive officer role. This followed on from the best session in three months for US-listed Chinese stocks on Thursday.
Geopolitics provided a modicum of support for sentiment, after US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi to ease rising tensions between the nations.
“The risk appetite of the stock market is likely to be lifted by the news of US-China meeting,” said Alvin Ngan, an analyst with Zhongtai Financial International Ltd., “Overseas-listed Chinese stocks and Chinese internet sector, of which foreign investors have relatively high exposure, are likely to get a boost.”
US futures rose about 0.2% in Asian trading after the S&P 500 slid 0.2% following jobs and inflation data, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 added 0.3% after Google parent Alphabet Inc. showcased its artificial intelligence tools.
Much uncertainty remains, though, which is encouraging investors to look for hedges against volatility. JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said “we need to finish the bank crisis,” in a Bloomberg Television interview, adding regulators should do “whatever they need to do to make it better.” He predicted more regulations were ahead for lenders.
Investors are digesting news that a meeting between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy set for Friday will be postponed. The delay reflects progress in staff-level discussions, according to people familiar with the talks.
Data showed US initial jobless claims reached the highest since October 2021 while producer prices rose 0.2% in April, trailing economists’ estimates for a 0.3% increase. The reports indicate the Federal Reserve’s policy-tightening campaign may finally be having an effect on inflation as the central bank walks a tightrope between reining in rising prices and tipping the economy into a downturn.
Australian and New Zealand bonds climbed after the 10-year Treasury yield fell six basis points lower on Thursday. The dollar was flat after rising the most in two months in the prior session.
Copper fell to the lowest level since November as commodity prices slumped on renewed concerns about China’s economic recovery after credit and new loans fell in April.
Elsewhere, the Bloomberg Commodity Index is set for its fourth weekly decline on the weak US and Chinese economic data, its longest such streak since September.
Adani Group continues to face problems, with global index manager MSCI Inc. to exclude two of its firms from its India gauge. That’s a potential blow to the stocks as they try to recover from the rout triggered by a short-seller report earlier this year. MSCI also said 86 securities will be added to its All Country World Index, and 39 deleted.
Key events this week:
- US University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday
- Fed Governor Philip Jefferson and St. Louis Fed President James Bullard participate in panel discussion on monetary policy at Stanford University, Friday
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
- S&P 500 futures rose 0.2% as of 11:48 a.m. Tokyo time. The S&P 500 fell 0.2%
- Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.2%. The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.3%
- Japan’s Topix rose 0.6%
- Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.2%
- Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.4%
- The Shanghai Composite fell 0.7%
- Euro Stoxx 50 futures rose 0.3%
Currencies
- The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
- The euro was little changed at $1.0919
- The Japanese yen was little changed at 134.63 per dollar
- The offshore yuan was little changed at 6.9545 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
- Bitcoin fell 0.7% to $26,823.09
- Ether fell 0.7% to $1,783.55
Bonds
- The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 3.38%
- Australia’s 10-year yield declined six basis points to 3.33%
Commodities
- West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.4% to $70.58 a barrel
- Spot gold fell 0.3% to $2,009.49 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Peyton Forte, Emily Graffeo, Mengchen Lu and Rob Verdonck.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.