Asian markets slip as rising US bond yields lift dollar
The post-election shift in expectations leaves Asian stocks vulnerable to investors potentially rotating funds out of emerging markets to the US
Tokyo — Asian share markets weakened on Friday as rising US bond yields carried the dollar to a more than 13-and-a-half-year high against a basket of major currencies, fuelled by the expectation that president-elect Donald Trump’s policies will lead to higher interest rates. The post-election shift in expectations has left Asian stocks vulnerable to investors potentially rotating funds out of emerging markets to the US. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.4% to hover just above its four-month low touched earlier in the week. It looks set to log its fourth consecutive week of losses. The dollar’s rise, however, was a boon for Japan’s exporter-driven Nikkei average, which rose 1% to a 10-month high. On Wall Street, the benchmark S&P 500 index rose 0.5% to within a hair’s breadth of its record high, as the prospect of higher interest rates boosted bank stocks and consumer discretionary stocks were helped by favourable economic data and earnings. US cons...
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