Business

Asian stocks ease as caution persists despite calmer markets

Asian stocks came under pressure on Thursday as a mixed Wall Street session gave investors few immediate reasons to increase their risk positions following the recent social media-driven trading chaos.

First trading day of stock market in Tokyo
FILE PHOTO: A man wearing a facial mask, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, stands in front of an electric board showing Nikkei (top in C) and other countries stock index outside a brokerage at a business district in Tokyo, Japan, January 4, 2021. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
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NEW YORK: Asian stocks came under pressure on Thursday as a mixed Wall Street session gave investors few immediate reasons to increase their risk positions following the recent social media-driven trading chaos.

Markets have calmed significantly in the past few days with the Cboe Volatility index down on Wednesday as wild swings in stock prices of GameStop and other social media favorites subsided and the retail trading frenzy faded.

However, caution continues to dominate sentiment despite positive corporate earnings and firm signs of economic recovery.

The Australian S&P/ASX 200 index lost 0.34per cent during early trade and Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.35per cent. The lackluster start to Asian trade followed a mixed Wall Street session with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.12per cent, the S&P 500 gaining 0.10per cent, but the Nasdaq Composite losing 0.02per cent.

Supporting U.S. sentiment were strong earnings by technology giants Alphabet Inc and Amazon.com Inc.

The Google parent company's beat sent shares soaring nearly 7per cent on Tuesday, but some analysts warned the move was too extreme.

"After lagging its FAANG peers in 2020, shares of Alphabet are making up for lost time in 2021," said Paul Hickey of Bespoke Investment Group.

"You'd expect GOOGL to at least consolidate a bit before it's able to build on (year-to-date) gains."

E-mini futures for the S&P 500 inched 0.26per cent higher while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index futures lost 0.16per cent.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.04per cent.

Oil markets continued to advance as inventories hit their lowest level since March. U.S. crude recently rose 0.45per cent to US$55.94 per barrel and Brent was at US$58.67, up 2.11per cent on the day.

U.S. Treasury yields continued to rise on the hopes of a large stimulus package and the dollar strengthened against a basket of currencies as investors felt more confident in the U.S. recovery trajectory than in Europe's recovery. The benchmark 10-year yield was last up 3.2 basis points at 1.1391per cent

The 30-year bond was last up 4.9 basis point at 1.9267per cent, while the 20-year yield hit 1.735per cent, its highest level since that bond maturity was relaunched in May 2020.

The dollar index was up 0.07per cent at 91.145 in afternoon trading in New York after rising to a two-month high of 91.308 during the session.

Spot gold fell 0.2per cent to US$1,833.93 per ounce and U.S. gold futures settled up 0.1per cent at US$1,835.10.

(Reporting by Imani Moise; Editing by Sam Holmes)

Source: Reuters