Asian shares spooked by Delta spread as Jackson Hole looms
Asian shares retreated on Thursday, brushing off an upbeat Wall Street lead as the Delta coronavirus variant's spread darkened the regional mood while a South Korean interest rate hike put the focus on the global central bank outlook.
Investors are mostly waiting for the Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole symposium on Friday and what central bank chair Jerome Powell might say about U.S. tapering monetary stimulus.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.60%, and U.S. stock futures the S&P 500 e-minis , shed 0.14%.
South Korea’s central bank raised interest rates for the first time in nearly three years, making it the first major economy to do so in the pandemic era. The Bank of Korea raised its rate by 25 basis points to 0.75%.
South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.79% while the Korean won weakened on that news to trade at 1,169.77 Korean won per dollar.
· Hong Kong, China stocks fall on tech retreat, Evergrande profit warning
Hong Kong and China stocks pulled back on Thursday as a sharp rally in tech shares petered out, and China Evergrande Group’s profit warning knocked down property developers and banks, which are heavily exposed to the sector.
The Hang Seng index dropped 1.4% to 25,324.19 by lunch break, while the Hong Kong China Enterprises Index lost 1.8% to 8,915.93.
In China, the blue-chip CSI300 index fell 1.4% to 4,830.63, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.5% to 3,522.58.
· Japan's Nikkei crawls up as transport gains; caution remains before Jackson Hole
Japan’s Nikkei inched up in choppy trade on Thursday, lifted by transport shares and Wall Street’s overnight moves, but gains were capped as market participants stayed away from making big bets ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Jackson Hole symposium this week.
The Nikkei share average edged up 0.06% to close at 27,742.29, after swinging up 0.37% and down 0.14%.
The broader Topix edged down 0.02% to 1,935.35.
· European stocks retreat, tracking global sentiment ahead of Fed symposium
European shares pulled back on Thursday, following the global market mood as U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers gather for a closely watched monetary policy summit.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 dropped 0.7% in early trade, with retail stocks shedding 1.4% to lead losses as all sectors and major bourses slid into the red.
· London's FTSE 100 drops as financial, mining stocks weigh
London’s FTSE 100 fell on Thursday, dragged down by heavyweight financials and miners, as investors weighed risks associated with rising global COVID-19 infections and supply chain disruptions.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index fell 0.7% after four straight sessions of gains, with HSBC Holdings, Aviva, Rio Tinto and BHP Group being the top drags.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
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