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Asia stocks fall on tech rout contagion, global uncertainty
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Mainland Chinese tourists take photo of the skyline of buildings at Tsim Sha Tsui, in Hong Kong, China, on May 2, 2023. (Reuters/Tyrone Siu)
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sian shares are set to end the week on a sour note, as uncertainty across the geopolitical landscape and in major economies added to headwinds for investors even as the global rate easing cycle gets under way.
It has been a turbulent week in markets, with a tech sell-off sparked by deepening Sino-US trade tensions, uncertainty over US President Joe Biden's fate in the presidential race, disappointing Chinese economic data and a lackluster third plenum outcome casting a shadow over the global mood.
In the foreign exchange market, Tokyo's recent bouts of intervention also kept traders on edge.
"We could just be getting a taste of things to come. And that is more turbulence," said Matt Simpson, senior market analyst at City Index.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slid 0.1 percent and was headed for its worst week in over a month with a 2.4 percent loss.
Japan's Nikkei fell to a more than two-week low and was last down 0.1 percent, extending its sharp 2.4 percent fall from the previous session.
The Nikkei looked set to end the week 2.7 percent lower, also its steepest weekly decline in three months.
Technology stocks continued to struggle, with South Korea's tech-heavy KOSPI index and Taiwan stocks both easing more than 1 percent.
South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix was last 0.7 percent lower, though Japan's Tokyo Electron, a chipmaking equipment manufacturer, rebounded some 2.6 percent, after an 8.75 percent tumble on Thursday.
Shares of Taiwan's TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, fell 1.3 percent, even after the company posted better-than-expected earnings on Thursday and raised its full-year revenue forecast.
In China, investors were left disappointed over the lack of details provided on the implementation steps for achieving the country's economic policy goals at the conclusion of its closely watched plenum on Thursday.
Chinese blue-chips fell 0.08 percent in early trade, while the Shanghai Composite Index edged 0.07 percent lower. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slid 1.5 percent.
"While more robust details are likely still forthcoming, we interpret the initial communique as the third plenum failing to deliver anything especially meaningful that would suggest changes to the longer-term direction for the Chinese economy," said Brendan McKenna, international economist at Wells Fargo.
The onshore yuan opened a touch weaker at 7.2626 per dollar.
RATES FOCUS
The euro was last 0.02 percent lower at $1.0893, having fallen 0.4 percent in the previous session after the European Central Bank (ECB) kept rates on hold as expected but left the door open to a September cut as it downgraded its view of the euro zone's economic prospects.
"The policy statement gives little away, offering no meaningful changes from June - continuing to stress a data-dependent approach to policy setting," said Nick Rees, FX market analyst at MonFX.
"We still think that a September cut remains the base case."
The dollar was meanwhile on the front foot, distancing itself from a four-month low hit earlier in the week against a basket of currencies.
Sterling dipped 0.03 percent to $1.2942, while the Australian dollar fell 0.12 percent to $0.6698.
The dollar was underpinned by strong US manufacturing data and jobless figures that did little to suggest a significant slowing in the labor market, though traders are still pricing in a September rate cut from the Federal Reserve.
The yen was a touch firmer at 157.31, helped by suspected bouts of intervention from Japanese authorities to prop up the currency and as an acceleration in the country's core inflation last month kept alive expectations that the Bank of Japan could soon raise interest rates.
In commodities, oil prices fell, as mixed economic signals weighed on investor sentiment.
Brent crude futures eased 0.58 percent to $84.62 a barrel, while US crude futures slid 0.81 percent to $82.15 per barrel.
Gold fell 0.8 percent to $2,425.19 an ounce, retreating from a record high hit earlier this week on the prospect of lower global interest rates.
