TOKYO – Asian stocks were mixed on Monday as sentiment was shaken by the US Federal Reserve’s announcement that it would end a number of emergency measures taken last year to help the financial sector deal with the pandemic.
The Japanese NIkkei 225 NIK,
Down 1.8% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index HSI,
Retracted 0.2% lower. The Shanghai Composite SHCOMP,
achieved 0.9% and South Korean Kospi 180721,
sharpness 0.1% higher. Australia S & P / ASX 200 XJO,
advanced 0.4%. Stocks slipped in Indonesia JAKIDX,
but acquired in Singapore STI,
and Taiwan Y9999,
In Tokyo trading, major stocks fell almost across the board, including automakers such as Toyota Motor Corp. 7203,
and Honda Motor Co. 7267,
whose earnings are fueled by a healthy US economy.
“Asian markets had a mixed start to the week, with rising bond yields weighing on sentiment again. The apparent impact between rising bond yields and improving economic recovery outlook is likely to persist in the region through the end of March, ”said Jingyi Pan, senior market strategist at IG in Singapore.
The Fed’s move last week will restore some of the capital requirements for major banks that were suspended in the early months of the viral outbreak, to give banks flexibility. The banking industry had hoped that those measures would be extended.
But most of the Fed’s policies to support the pandemic recovery remain intact.
Concerns about the coronavirus pandemic remain in the region, where the introduction of vaccines in some countries, such as Japan and Thailand, is progressing slowly compared to the US or Europe. Nevertheless, in Japan this week the “state of emergency” will be lifted in the Tokyo region,
Wall Street ended largely lower last week, with all benchmarks ending in the red this week. The S&P 500 SPX,
0.1% lost to 3,913.10. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA,
fell 0.7% to 32,627.97, pulled down by financial companies. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite COMP,
rose 0.8% to 13,215.24.
As interest rates have risen, more expensive stocks such as tech companies have fallen. The prospect of higher interest rates as bond yields rise has some investors concerned that economic growth could slow. There are also concerns that the rise in bond yields could be a harbinger of inflation.
In energy trading, US crude oil benchmark CLJ21,
fell 46 cents to $ 60.96 a barrel. Brent raw BRNK21,
the international standard lost 19 cents to $ 64.34 per barel.
In currency trading, the US dollar USDJPY,
rose from 198.64 yen to 108.76 Japanese yen.