Asian shares mixed ahead of ‘Magnificent Seven’ results
Traders are also focused on data releases this week, including US job openings and nonfarm payrolls
29 October 2024 - 08:15
byKevin Buckland
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A man walks past an electronic screen outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan March 21, 2024. File photo: REUTERS
Tokyo — Asian stocks were mixed in volatile trading on Tuesday as investors girded for three days of tech megacap earnings reports on Wall Street, kicking off with Google parent Alphabet later in the day.
The dollar drifted not far from a three-month high with one of the Federal Reserve’s preferred employment gauges — the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (Jolts) — due on Tuesday, ahead of highly anticipated monthly nonfarm payrolls data on Friday. US treasury yields eased from three-month peaks.
The yen found its footing after Monday’s plunge to a three-month low as the coalition government’s drubbing in weekend elections clouded the outlook for Japanese fiscal and monetary policies. The Nikkei index recovered from a cautious start to build on the previous session's gains.
The US election has entered its final stretch, with opinion polls still too close to call a winner, despite some betting sites and financial markets leaning towards a win for Republican Donald Trump over Democrat Kamala Harris.
Crude ticked up slightly after its plunge on Monday on signs the war in the Middle East would not widen, after Israel avoided targeting oil and nuclear facilities in a retaliatory strike on Iran at the weekend.
The Nikkei rose 0.65% by 2.13am GMT, building on its 1.82% rally in the previous session. It started the day down 0.21%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was 0.65% higher, paring earlier gains of as much as 1.6%. Mainland Chinese blue chips slipped 0.1%, giving up an early rise of 0.68%.
US S&P500 futures were flat after the cash index gained 0.26% overnight.
“The conviction to take these markets higher, we just don’t have that,” said Tony Sycamore, a markets analyst at IG. “We’re in a very, very tricky period here. It just doesn’t make sense to be chasing risk at this time.”
The bulk of the “Magnificent Seven” group of megacap technology stocks that have driven Wall Street to record highs this year report financial results this week, starting with Alphabet. Earnings from Meta Platforms and Microsoft are due on Wednesday, followed by Apple and Amazon on Thursday.
The dollar was little changed against a basket of six major peers, which includes the yen and euro. The dollar index stood at 104.24, after reaching 104.57 overnight, matching the high from Wednesday of last week, a level previously not seen since July 30.
Recent robust US economic data, including evidence of a resilient job market, have seen bets pared back for easing this year by the Federal Reserve, boosting the dollar.
The US currency has also been buoyed by rising market expectations for an election win for Trump, whose tariff, tax and immigration policies are seen as inflationary, thus negative for bonds and positive for the dollar.
Ten-year US treasury yields eased to 4.272% on Tuesday, after reaching the highest since July 11 at 4.3% overnight.
The dollar slipped 0.24% to ¥152.92, but that followed a rally to the highest since July 31 at ¥153.885 on Monday.
In Japan, a period of wrangling to secure a coalition is likely after Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s Liberal Democratic Party and its junior partner Komeito lost their majority in parliament, in a scathing result that potentially means bigger fiscal spending and complicates the Bank of Japan’s (BoJ) push to normalise interest rates.
The head of the opposition Democratic Party for the People said on Tuesday that the central bank should avoid making big changes in its ultra-loose monetary policy now because real wage growth was still at a standstill.
The BoJ next decides policy on Thursday, with no change expected.
The euro held steady at $1.0814, and sterling was flat at $1.2973.
Gold rose 0.35% to $2,751.76/oz, pushing up towards the record high of $2,758.37 from last week.
Brent crude futures gained 0.6% to $71.86 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was at $67.83 a barrel, up 0.7%. Both contracts tumbled 6% on Monday, hitting their lowest since October 1.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Asian shares mixed ahead of ‘Magnificent Seven’ results
Traders are also focused on data releases this week, including US job openings and nonfarm payrolls
Tokyo — Asian stocks were mixed in volatile trading on Tuesday as investors girded for three days of tech megacap earnings reports on Wall Street, kicking off with Google parent Alphabet later in the day.
The dollar drifted not far from a three-month high with one of the Federal Reserve’s preferred employment gauges — the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (Jolts) — due on Tuesday, ahead of highly anticipated monthly nonfarm payrolls data on Friday. US treasury yields eased from three-month peaks.
The yen found its footing after Monday’s plunge to a three-month low as the coalition government’s drubbing in weekend elections clouded the outlook for Japanese fiscal and monetary policies. The Nikkei index recovered from a cautious start to build on the previous session's gains.
The US election has entered its final stretch, with opinion polls still too close to call a winner, despite some betting sites and financial markets leaning towards a win for Republican Donald Trump over Democrat Kamala Harris.
Crude ticked up slightly after its plunge on Monday on signs the war in the Middle East would not widen, after Israel avoided targeting oil and nuclear facilities in a retaliatory strike on Iran at the weekend.
The Nikkei rose 0.65% by 2.13am GMT, building on its 1.82% rally in the previous session. It started the day down 0.21%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was 0.65% higher, paring earlier gains of as much as 1.6%. Mainland Chinese blue chips slipped 0.1%, giving up an early rise of 0.68%.
US S&P500 futures were flat after the cash index gained 0.26% overnight.
“The conviction to take these markets higher, we just don’t have that,” said Tony Sycamore, a markets analyst at IG. “We’re in a very, very tricky period here. It just doesn’t make sense to be chasing risk at this time.”
The bulk of the “Magnificent Seven” group of megacap technology stocks that have driven Wall Street to record highs this year report financial results this week, starting with Alphabet. Earnings from Meta Platforms and Microsoft are due on Wednesday, followed by Apple and Amazon on Thursday.
The dollar was little changed against a basket of six major peers, which includes the yen and euro. The dollar index stood at 104.24, after reaching 104.57 overnight, matching the high from Wednesday of last week, a level previously not seen since July 30.
Recent robust US economic data, including evidence of a resilient job market, have seen bets pared back for easing this year by the Federal Reserve, boosting the dollar.
The US currency has also been buoyed by rising market expectations for an election win for Trump, whose tariff, tax and immigration policies are seen as inflationary, thus negative for bonds and positive for the dollar.
Ten-year US treasury yields eased to 4.272% on Tuesday, after reaching the highest since July 11 at 4.3% overnight.
The dollar slipped 0.24% to ¥152.92, but that followed a rally to the highest since July 31 at ¥153.885 on Monday.
In Japan, a period of wrangling to secure a coalition is likely after Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s Liberal Democratic Party and its junior partner Komeito lost their majority in parliament, in a scathing result that potentially means bigger fiscal spending and complicates the Bank of Japan’s (BoJ) push to normalise interest rates.
The head of the opposition Democratic Party for the People said on Tuesday that the central bank should avoid making big changes in its ultra-loose monetary policy now because real wage growth was still at a standstill.
The BoJ next decides policy on Thursday, with no change expected.
The euro held steady at $1.0814, and sterling was flat at $1.2973.
Gold rose 0.35% to $2,751.76/oz, pushing up towards the record high of $2,758.37 from last week.
Brent crude futures gained 0.6% to $71.86 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was at $67.83 a barrel, up 0.7%. Both contracts tumbled 6% on Monday, hitting their lowest since October 1.
Reuters
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