Hong Kong — Asian stocks erased early losses but stayed below 19-month highs on Monday as a renewed drop in sovereign bond yields on political concerns prompted some investors to move to the sidelines after a recent rally. Markets remained in recent broad trading ranges, and interest is focused on US President Donald Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, where he is expected to unveil some elements of his plans to cut taxes. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was flat after declining 0.3% in early trades. Japan was down 1.2%, and Australia off 0.2%. The broad Asia-Pacific index, which fell 0.7% on Friday, is still up more than 11% since end-December. "Until we see some strong earnings, we are in for a correction phase," the head of equities at a US fund in Hong Kong predicted. On a forward valuation basis, Asia-Pacific shares traded at a price:earnings multiple of 15 times compared with nearly 19.6 times in the US and 16 times in Eur...
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