Asian Stock Market: Chinese bulls fall short of renewing market optimism

Asian equity markets fail to cheer China’s return from a long break as upbeat US jobs report keep Fed hawks on the table. Adding to the mixed concerns are fears of the Russia-Ukraine war and an absence of major data/events during Monday morning.

That said, MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan drops 0.20% intraday while Japan’s Nikkei 225 declines 0.80% heading into Monday’s European session.

Australia’s ASX 200 print mild intraday losses as traders struggle between softer China Caixin Services PMI and Aussie PM Scott Morrison’s border opening plans from February 21. Further, New Zealand’s NZX 50 remains lackluster while Indonesia’s strong Q4 GDP fails to impress traders.

Further, South Korea’s KOSPI drops 0.30% while India’s BSE Sensex drops 0.60% on a day at the latest.

Above all, Chinese stocks are mostly up near 1.0% intraday by the press time as market players welcome the latest comments from China suggesting easy money policies to remain on the table. Also favoring equities from Beijing are downbeat prints of China Caixin Services PMI for January and hints of more market liquidity to battle the hawkish hints from major central banks. In doing so, China’s equity bulls ignore recently downbeat signals over the Sino-American trade deal.

On a broader front, the US 10-year Treasury yields retreat from a two-year high while the S&P 500 Futures pare early Asian losses at the latest. Even so, the US Dollar Index (DXY) extend Friday corrective pullback from a three-week low.

That said, the DXY bounced off a multi-day low after the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) offered a positive surprise concerning January employment data. Among the key details, Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) rose by 467K versus the median forecast for a 150K rise and 510K revised prior while the Unemployment Rate rose to 4.0% from 3.9% in December, compared to expectations for a no-change figure. It’s worth noting, however, that the U6 Underemployment Rate extended the south-run to 7.1% from 7.3% previous readouts. Also encouraging was Average Hourly Earnings that jumped strongly to 5.7% versus 4.9%.

Given the full markets and a light calendar, investors may witness a slow start to the week until Thursday’s US inflation data.

Read: US Treasury yields pare NFP-led gains at 25-month high, stock futures stay pressured