Asian Stock Market: Tracks S&P 500 Futures to south

• Asian equities print mild losses as cautious sentiment keep US Treasury yields firmer, exerting downside pressure on S&P 500 Futures.
• China’s crackdown on technology companies joins mixed PMI data from the dragon nation to confuse traders.
• Japan’s return from holiday couldn’t lift Nikkei 225, Hong Kong’s Hang Sang drops the most among the Asia-Pacific region’s friends.
• Wall Street benchmarks closed positive with S&P 500 refreshing record top on upbeat US GDP, positive earnings.

Asia-Pacific shares couldn’t follow Wall Street’s gains as US bond bears keep reins during early Friday. Also favoring the risk-off mood could be Indian covid strain’s entrance in Europe and mixed data, not to forget China’s move to control data and tame technology firms.

Amid these plays, MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan drops 0.50% while Japan’s Nikkei 225 fails to get a warm welcome on their return from the Showa Day holiday, down 0.73% on a day by the press time. In doing so, Japanese traders struggle to justify upbeat Unemployment Rate and Industrial Production figures, as well as another stimulus from the government, as inflation data disappoint markets. It’s worth mentioning that Moderna covid vaccine’s arrival in Tokyo also couldn’t lift the sentiment in the land of the rising sun.

On the other hand, China’s latest curbs on the big technology companies and payment processors over data usage raised doubts that the world’s second-largest economy eyes more domestic growth than its previous push towards globalization. Additionally weighing on Chinese equities were the mixed prints of April’s PMI data from NBS and IHS Markit/Caixin.

Stocks in Australia and New Zealand followed the general trend, with the Aussie index ASX 200 declining more due to downbeat data at home. Further, Hong Kong’s Hang Sang drops over 1.5% and becomes the region’s biggest loser by the press time.

South Korea’s KOSPI, Indonesia’s IDX Composite declined 0.90% and 0.40% respectively amid not-so-clear economics and fears of the coronavirus (COVID-19) whereas India’s BSE Sensex follows the trend with 0.75% intraday losses at the time of writing.

On a broader front, S&P 500 Futures print 0.20% intraday losses and the US 10-year Treasury yield rises for the second consecutive day, which in turn help the US dollar index (DXY) to extend Thursday’s corrective pullback.

Read: S&P 500 Futures consolidate gains from record top amid firmer US Treasury yields

Looking forward, the preliminary GDP figures from Germany and Eurozone will be the key to follow ahead of the second-tier data from the US and Exxon Mobil’s earnings.