By Gregor Stuart Hunter
SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Asian stocks limped towards the end of the week on a shaky footing on Friday as declines on Wall Street lingered into early trading, while commodity markets took a breather after their recent charge higher. Regional markets remain on track for one of their best years in a decade, firmly outstripping gains for U.S. counterparts as President Donald Trump’s package of economic policies and tariffs prompts a surge of orders across the region to meet booming demand for AI-linked technology hardware. The U.S. trading session marked the point where a number of “well-subscribed, high-momentum trades” including gold, silver, crypto, and much of the S&P 500 “finally showed signs of exhaustion,” said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone Group Ltd in Melbourne. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fluctuated between gains and losses, last down 0.2% as its gains for the week hung in the balance, after U.S. stocks ended the previous session with mild declines.
Shares in Hong Kong were down the most, off 1.1%, while the Australian market slid 0.1% against a backdrop of volatile commodity markets. In South Korea, stocks surged 1.7%, extending gains for the region’s best-performing index. U.S. stock futures found a bottom in Asia, with corporate earnings season for the third quarter due to kick off on Wall Street next week. S&P 500 e-minis were up 0.2%, while the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, held steady near a two-month high at 99.37. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond fell to 4.1384% compared with its U.S. close of 4.148% on Thursday. Traders’ expectations that the Federal Reserve will ease policy at its meeting on October 29 remain solid, with Fed funds futures pricing a 94.1% probability of a 25-basis-point rate cut, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool.
TAKAICHI WALKS A TIGHTROPE
The Nikkei stock index tumbled 0.7%, taking a step back after sharp gains this week including on Thursday when it swept to an all-time closing high.
Data earlier in the day showed wholesale prices rose 2.7% in the year to September, in a sign of persistent cost pressure that will keep markets braced for a possible rate hike by the Bank of Japan when it meets on October 30. The dollar slid 0.1% against the yen to 152.96, around the weakest level for the Japanese currency since February, after the new ruling party leader Sanae Takaichi said on Thursday that the country’s central bank is responsible for setting monetary policy but that any decision it makes must align with the government’s goal. Traders say her pledge to reassert government sway over the central bank may face a reality check from a weak yen and domestic political considerations, however.
“The market expects the Japanese government to adopt expansionary fiscal policies,” analysts from Bank of America wrote in a research report. “However, considerable uncertainty remains about the specifics of the policies up for debate, as well as the extent of the fiscal expansion.”
COMMODITIES IN FOCUS
Gold edged down, extending declines after snapping a four-day winning streak on Thursday, shortly after breaching the $4,000 mark for the first time and with evidence of the ebullience spilling across into other precious metals. Spot gold was last trading down 0.1% at $3,971.93 per ounce, while silver was up 1% at $49.62, retesting the $50 mark after crossing above the boundary for the first time on Thursday. [GOL/] Chinese stocks tumbled following declines for ETFs tracking large-caps on Wall Street overnight after Beijing expanded its rare earths export controls on Thursday, tightening control over the sector ahead of talks between Presidents Trump and Xi Jinping. In energy markets, Brent crude edged up 0.1% to $65.27 per barrel, after Israel’s government ratified a ceasefire with the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Friday, clearing the way to suspend hostilities in Gaza within 24 hours and free Israeli hostages held there shortly after that.
(Reporting by Gregor Stuart HunterEditing by Shri Navaratnam)
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