Asian stocks plummet due to weak data from China worrying global growth concerns

HONG KONG, Sept. 15 (Reuters) – Asian stocks fell on Wednesday as weak Chinese economic data bolstered concerns about slowing global growth as well as the world’s second-largest economy amid nerves full of a still dominant pandemic and the reduction in the intensity of central banks. stimulus.

MSCI’s broader Asia-Pacific stock index outside of Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) fell 0.82%, extending previous losses after the release of Chinese data, while Tokyo’s Nikkei (. N225) fell 0.89%, stopping closing for more than 31 years. high the day before.

A series of data from China showed that companies were facing the impact of localized blockages following sporadic outbreaks of COVID-19, bottlenecks in supply and high raw material costs.

Retail sales grew at the slowest pace since August 2020 and lost analysts’ expectations, while industrial production also rose at a slower pace from July, highlighting recent signs of slowing. the economic boost in China and adding to the expectations that Beijing will offer more stimulus over the coming months. Read more

Following the data, Chinese blue chips (.CSI300) fell 0.73%.

Hong Kong benchmark (.HSI) fell 0.87% dragged down by casino stocks as Macau gaming center launches consultation ahead of withdrawal of its $ 1 billion casinos next year. Read more

Shares of Wynn Macau (1128.HK) at one point fell more than 30%.

Markets also remained focused on the calendar to reduce the massive stimulus driven by a Federal Reserve pandemic.

“There is uncertainty in the markets right now, while investors are waiting to see what the Federal Reserve will do to reduce its asset purchases, which depends on the state of the labor market and the inflation situation,” he said. dir Sean Debow Asia, CEO of Eurizon Asset Management.

Debow said more clarity would emerge in both in the coming weeks, although for now markets were reacting quickly to any data point on employment and inflation.

Overnight, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that the consumer price index in August recorded its smallest gain in six months, suggesting that inflation has likely peaked, matching with the long-term belief of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell that high inflation is transient. Read more

Lower inflation suggests that the Fed will be under less pressure to start cutting its broad asset purchases, and as a result, the yield on the 10-year benchmark US10YT = RR fell to 1.263%, the lowest since August 24th. .

Yields recovered slightly and varied little in Asia on Wednesday, with 1.285%, while the dollar remained steady as it fell against its peers ’basket by inflation figures.

Overnight on Wall Street, worries about the slowdown in growth caused the Dow Jones <.DJI industrial average to lose, while the S&P 500 (.SPX) fell 0.57% and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) fell 0.45%.

Barely a tenth of respondents to the Bank of America’s monthly fund managers survey expect a stronger global economy in the coming months, marking the lowest proportion since the first COVID-19 panic last April, show the September issue of the poll. Read more

The spread of the Delta variant was cited as a reason for pessimism.

Oil prices gained in a larger-than-expected reduction in crude oil stocks in the United States, with US crude gaining 0.51% to $ 70.82 a barrel and Brent crude a 0.46% to $ 73.94 per barrel.

Spot gold traded at $ 1802,0374 an ounce, down 0.12%, after hitting a one-week high of $ 1,808.50 on lower interest rates.

Edited by Shri Navaratnam

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