TOKYO: Asian shares turned lower on Thursday after touching near two-year highs, while the dollar benefited from waning expectations that the European Central Bank was poised to end its easy policy.
Financial spreadbetters expected some of the gloom to extend to European trading, with spreadbetters predicting Britain’s FTSE would open lower. France’s CAC 40 and Germany’s DAX were likely to open higher, with the DAX continuing to close in on record highs seen in 2015.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.2 per cent, stepping back from morning trade when it nudged close its loftiest levels since June 2015.
Australian shares firmed 0.4 per cent, helped by an overnight gain in oil prices. Strong energy shares had helped the US S&P 500 end higher overnight.
China stocks were headed for a fourth day of losses amid worries over property market prospects, sharp declines in newly-listed stocks, and liquidity stress as the month-end approached. The CSI300 index was down 1.0 per cent, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 1.2 per cent.
The Federal Reserve’s monetary outlook and policy-making under US President Donald Trump have held sway in financial markets over the past few months. While investors have more or less come to terms with rising rates in the United States, concerns remain around the Trump administration’s ability to get US growth into a higher gear.
Last week’s failure of Trump’s US healthcare reform bill reinforced those doubts.
The dollar index, which tracks the US currency against a basket of six major rivals, was slightly up on the day at 100.030. It was lifted to a one-week high overnight as the euro slipped on concerns about the impact of Brexit as well as news that ECB policymakers are keen to reassure investors that their easy-money policy is far from ending.
The euro was down 0.1 per cent at $1.0756, after Reuters reported ECB policymakers were wary of changing their policy message following tweaks this month that upset investors and raised the spectre of a surge in borrowing costs.
Prime Minister Theresa May formally began Britain’s exit from the European Union on Wednesday, launching a two-year negotiation process before the divorce comes into effect in late March 2019.
Sterling steadied at $1.2438 after skidding to a one-week low of $1.2377 overnight.
“Brexit, to some extent, has been covered in the market already. People went short, covered, and went short again,” said Kaneo Ogino, director at foreign exchange research firm Global-info Co in Tokyo.
“As for the dollar, demand is still steady from pure commercial orders, but the Japanese fiscal year ends this week and Tokyo investors don’t want to take new positions,” Ogino said.
Against the yen, the dollar added 0.1 per cent to 111.17, well above this week’s low of 110.110, its lowest since November 18, following Trump’s healthcare reform blow.
Despite the dollar’s gains on the day, it was far lower than levels above 115 yen hit a few weeks ago, and Japan’s Nikkei stock index shed 0.8 per cent.
“Investors have bought Japanese stocks mainly because of the strong dollar-yen trend.
Trump’s healthcare defeat threw a wet blanket on the Japan market’s rally since last November,” said Takuya Takahashi, a strategist at Daiwa Securities.
Japanese stocks soared more than 10 per cent since Trump’s election on hopes his administration would boost US economic growth to 3 per cent or even higher.
The healthcare setback raised fears that Trump might face challenges in getting his promised stimulus and tax reform policies passed as well, which pressured the greenback and US Treasury yields.— Reuters
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