Chinese tech stocks in Hong Kong fell on Wednesday, with Alibaba down 4.05% and Meituan down 2.81% and Tencent down 1.85%. The Hang Seng Tech index traded 3.17% lower. In Japan, SoftBank Group shares fell 2.49%. In South Korea, shares of Kakao fell 2.79% and Naver fell 3.21% while SK Hynix fell 2.58%. These losses in Asia came after the heavy technology Nasdaq Composite lagged behind Wall Street overnight, falling 2.26% to 14,204.17 points. Wider Asia-Pacific markets also traded in negative territory on Wednesday. The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index fell 1.42%. Shares of mainland China fell as they returned to trading after the break earlier in the week. The Shanghai composite fell 0.22% while the Shenzhen element fell 0.611%. The Covid-zero policy is perhaps the most significant uncertainty we are witnessing at Eastspring right now, but generally speaking, we believe there is a good opportunity for investors wanting to return to China. Sarah Link client portfolio manager, Eastspring Investments Chinese service activity shrank sharply in March, according to a private survey on Wednesday. Caixin’s market capitalization index fell to 42.0 in March, well below the 50.2 mark in February and below the 50 threshold separating growth from shrinking on a monthly basis. Wednesday’s reading was also the lowest since February 2020. This data release comes as China continues to struggle with the worst Covid outbreak since the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020. “The Covid-zero policy is perhaps the most important uncertainty we are seeing at Eastspring right now, but generally speaking, we believe there is a good opportunity for investors wanting to return to China,” said Sarah Lien, a portfolio manager at Eastspring Investments (Singapore) told CNBC “Street Signs Asia” on Wednesday. “Although… there is a lot of concern in the markets, we believe it has value, we believe there are opportunities… and we believe that China is just a big differentiator… in the global portfolios,” Lien said.
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In Japan, the Nikkei 225 slipped 1.62% while the Topix index fell 1.17%. South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.9%. Meanwhile, the S & P / ASX 200 in Australia fell 0.52%. MSCI Asia’s broader Asia-Pacific stock index traded 1.17% lower outside Japan.
US Treasury Clock
Investors will continue to watch the movements of US bonds on Wednesday. The 10-year Ministry of Finance rose to its highest level since May 2019 on Tuesday, reaching a high of 2.562% before consolidating at 2.55%. The yield on the 10-year government bond was last at 2.6181%, well above the yield on the 2-year bond at 2.5878%. Yields are moving in the opposite direction to prices. The 2-year bond yield rise against the 10-year interest rate, which occurred last week before the recent reversal, has been observed historically before the recession. The 10-year Treasury’s performance jumped overnight following comments by US Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard proposing an aggressive approach to shrinking the central bank’s balance sheet. “Brainard reinforced her comments on the balance sheet cut with adverbs that added to the fallacy. Singapore Treasury Research. “We are probably not at the top of the Fed yet. This momentum could still be extended,” they said.
Coins and oil
The US dollar index, which tracks the dollar against a basket of peers, was at 99,545 after a recent jump below 99. The Japanese yen traded at 123.83 per dollar, weaker compared to the levels below 123.3 observed yesterday against the dollar. The Australian dollar changed hands at $ 0.7575 after a recent drop from over $ 0.762. Oil prices were higher in the afternoon trading hours in Asia, with international Brent crude futures climbing 0.24% to $ 106.90 a barrel. US crude futures were slightly higher at $ 101.98 a barrel.
