- Asian equities print mild losses amid COVID-19 wave 2.0, mixed data from China.
- BOJ suggests further easing, RBNZ cites downside risks.
- China Industrial Production rose for eighth month, Retail Sales eased.
- Canberra marks discomfort from Beijing’s recent punitive measures.
Asian shares remain depressed as recent headlines suggest the brewing trade war between Australia and China joins the fear of a coronavirus (COVID-19) second wave infection. Also weighing the mood could be the mixed data from China and dovish comments from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ). Meanwhile, upbeat news from the US polity and expectations of the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) stimulus chained the market bears.
That said, MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan drops0.45% while Japan’s Nikkei 225 and Australia’s ASX 200 drop near 0.30% intraday ahead of Tuesday’s European session.
Although Australian PM Scott Morrison tried to silent the chatters over China’s trade-negative behavior, the Financial Times (FT) and Bloomberg signaled Canberra is preparing to challenge Beijing’s actions in the World Trade Organizations (WTO). Also weighing on the Aussie stocks could be the RBA Meeting Minutes for the latest monetary policy chatters on December 01. The statement rekindled the policymakers’ readiness to ease further.
Meanwhile, Nikkei came out with the news suggesting the BOJ’s preparedness to extend the corporate stimulus program beyond the current deadline of March 2021.
Bucking the trend was New Zealand’s NZX 50 that gains over 0.50% by press time as the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) struck a dovish tone, suggesting further monetary easing.
Moving on, stocks in South Korea, China and Hong Kong were all downbeat with below 1.0% intraday losses each whereas S&P 500 Futures also trim the early-day gains towards printing the fifth day of losses as the covid conditions in the UK, Europe and the US worsen. Although the vaccine is nearby, surging cases and local lockdowns keeps bears hopeful despite expectations of US stimulus, backed by Joe Biden’s confirmed victory in the US presidential elections.
Indonesian stocks are heavy ahead of domestic trade data while those from India follow the suit while eyeing the Trade Deficit figures at home.
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