Asian Stock Market: Offered for third consecutive day on macro pessimism

With the market risks refrain from abating, Asian shares remain offered while heading into Friday’s European session. Among them, fears of the wider wave of the coronavirus (COVID-19) wave 2.0 and a further delay in the US covid aid package gain major attention. In doing so, China’s efforts to talk down the Sino-American tussle couldn’t entertain buyers.  As a result, MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan drops 0.40% intraday whereas Japan’s Nikkei 225 marks 1.45% losses on a day by press time.

Earlier in the day, Tokyo Consumer Price Index (CPI) dropped below the market consensus on YoY during October but the Unemployment Rate’s recovery, from 3.1% forecast to 3.0%, seemed to have dimmed the odds of further stimulus. Japanese traders also took note of government comments defying the calls for the third extra budget while ignoring the ease in travel advisory for China, Australia and other seven nations.

On the other hand, Australia’s ASX 200 drops for 0.55% even as the nation’s third-quarter (Q3) Producer Price Index recovered. The same goes for New Zealand’s NZX 50 that took clues from Chinese stocks to mark over 1.0% loss by the time of writing.

South Korea’s KOSPI becomes the region’s worst performer, currently down 1.88% intraday, even as Industrial and Service Output data for September flashed upbeat results earlier in Asia. Moving on, Indonesia’s IDX Composite marks a 0.30% loss where India’s BSE Sensex follows the suit amid a lack of major catalysts.

It’s worth mentioning that the S&P 500 Futures print 1.8% intraday losses as American tech giants couldn’t please the market bulls even with upbeat earnings. The reason could be traced from fears of a slowdown in sales, as indicates by Apple’s results. Additionally, the US 10-year Treasury yields decline 2.8 basis points (bps) to 0.81% while prices of oil fade the previous day’s pullback from a 4.5-month low amid concerns of a demand slowdown.

Looking forward, a lack of major data/events can extend the current market mood even if the US dollar index (DXY) eases from the monthly top to 93.84, down 0.10% now.