Asian stocks mixed after modest rally on Wall Street
Wall Street crawled to another record close overnight, with the lower rates for longer, buy-everything FOMO gnomes firmly in control. The session being most notable for Alphabet toughing the USD 2 trillion market cap mark, joining Apple and Microsoft. The S&P 500 closed 0.09% higher, the Nasdaq edged 0.07% higher, with the Dow Jones climbing by 0.29%. Once again, momentum has waned in Asia, with futures on all three indexes falling by around 0.20%.
With nothing of note to sink its teeth into, the street continued moving back into its happy place, interest rates lower for longer contributing to the buy-everything except the US dollar mood. With no thematic momentum one way or the other from Wall Street, Asian markets have been freed to set their own course today, leading to a mixed day across the region. The Nikkei 225 has risen just 0.10%, with South Korea’s Kospi falling by 0.15%. China is equally uninspiring, with the Shanghai Composite and CSI 300 almost unchanged thus far. Hong Kong has edged 0.15% higher.
Regionally, Singapore and Bangkok are trading each side of unchanged while Taipei is outperforming, rising by 0.70%, perhaps receiving an Alphabet tailwind. Kuala Lumpur has fallen by 0.60%, while Jakarta is 0.30% higher along with Manila. In Australia, markets are slightly higher, and the ASX 200 and All Ordinaries are rising by around 0.15%.
With a lack of events on the economic calendar, the most volatility is likely to be generated by central bank officials, with the BOE’s Bailey, the ECB’s Schnabel and the Fed’s Powell, Daly, and Kashkari all speaking. Market participants will be keeping a close eye on US CPI on Wednesday.
