Tuesday, January 12, 2021

Asia shares mostly lower amid rising coronavirus cases, Washington turmoil

Japan's Nikkei slipped 0.48 per cent, South Korea's KOSPI fell 0.91 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index futures lost 0.54 per cent. — Reuters pic
Japan's Nikkei slipped 0.48 per cent, South Korea's KOSPI fell 0.91 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index futures lost 0.54 per cent. — Reuters pic

NEW YORK, Jan 12 ― Asian stocks were mostly lower today, tracking Wall Street declines as political turmoil in Washington and rising coronavirus cases worldwide weighed on sentiment ahead of the start of the quarterly earnings season.

Political uncertainty dominated trading as House Democrats introduced a resolution to impeach US President Donald Trump, accusing him of inciting insurrection following a violent attack on the Capitol last week.

Several big tech giants, including Twitter Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Alphabet Inc, Facebook Inc and Apple Inc, have taken actions against Trump and his network of supporters, as concerns mounted over the risk of continued violence.

Twitter's stock tumbled 6.4 per cent yesterday after the micro-blogging site permanently suspended Trump's account last Friday.

Investors also kept an eye on the continued spread of the coronavirus globally as cases surpassed 90 million yesterday, according to a Reuters tally.

“The weakness was led by tech and I think the banning of Trump's account by Twitter and Amazon stepping up against Parler all brought a renewed focus on increased regulation and reining in on tech,” said Thomas Hayes, chairman of Great Hill Capital in New York.

Japan's Nikkei slipped 0.48 per cent, South Korea's KOSPI fell 0.91 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index futures lost 0.54 per cent.

Defying the broader selloff, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.24 per cent.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.29 per cent, the S&P 500 lost 0.66 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.25 per cent.

Investors are expecting guidance on the extent to which executives see a rebound in 2021 earnings and the economy from results and conference calls from JP Morgan, Citi and Wells Fargo Friday.

Meanwhile, longer-term Treasury yields were at their highest since March before new long-dated supply coming this week and on speculation of more US fiscal stimulus as Democrats will have control of Congress and the White House.

“People are optimistic to see the yield curve steepening and it could help spreads and net interest margins for banks,” Hayes said.

Benchmark 10-year notes last fell 11/32 in price to yield 1.1443 per cent, from 1.107 per cent late on Friday.

The spread between the two-year and 10-year Treasury yields brushed against 100 basis points to hit its steepest since July 2017.

The climb in yields in turn offered some support to the dollar, which rose to its highest in over two weeks against a basket of currencies.

The US dollar index rose 0.256 per cent, with the euro down 0.54 per cent to US$1.2152 (RM4.9243). The Japanese yen weakened 0.24 per cent versus the greenback at 104.20 per dollar, while Sterling was last trading at US$1.3516, down 0.35 per cent on the day.

Crude oil prices fell, hit by renewed concerns about global fuel demand amid tough coronavirus lockdowns across the globe, as well as the stronger dollar.

US crude recently fell 0.1 per cent to US$52.19 per barrel and Brent was at US$55.61, down 0.68 per cent on the day.

Safe-have spot gold dropped 0.2 per cent to US$1,844.27 an ounce. Silver fell 1.70 per cent to US$24.94. ― Reuters




Source: Malay Mail

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