DM Monitoring
SINGAPORE/WASHINGTON: Asian equities eased from a record high on Thursday as stalled US stimulus talks and a sell-off in tech stocks weighed, while sterling traders sat on a knife’s edge as last-ditch Brexit negotiations yielded only an agreement to keep talking.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.3%, while Japan’s Nikkei fell by the same margin. Both are up more than 60% from March lows. US Treasuries rose and the dollar steadied after a volatile overnight session in currency markets, with traders now looking ahead to a European Central Bank monetary policy meeting. Sterling teetered at $1.3363 as it awaits a Brexit resolution. “We’ve risen so far so fast that it’s making investors cautious,” said Michael McCarthy, chief strategist at stockbroker CMC Markets in Sydney. “The fall in tech stocks was a bit of a concern, given that they’ve risen in all market weather over the last six weeks, so to see them come off might signal that we’re looking at a short term corrective move.” A near 2% drop in the Nasdaq on Wednesday was driven by a 1.9% fall in Facebook shares after US regulators filed lawsuits alleging the company used its dominance to buy or crush rivals, harming competition.
Meanwhile, breakthroughs were elusive in long-running US pandemic relief negotiations and talks between British and European Union leaders over trade arrangements post Brexit. US lawmakers approved a stopgap government funding bill on Wednesday, but were unable to sort out disagreements over aid to state and local governments that are holding up a broader spending package.
