Asian stocks were mixed in morning trade Thursday as regional central banks came into focus with less than a week before the U.S. Federal Reserve decides whether to raise interest rates.
While Korea’s Kospi was flat as the Bank of Korea kept rates unchanged at 1.5%, New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 10 index fell 0.4% after the country’s central bank cut rates for the fourth time this year.
Chinese equities bucked the regional trend as the People’s Bank of China depreciated the yuan against the U.S. dollar for a fourth consecutive day. On Wednesday, it set its yuan reference rate at the weakest level in four years. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index rose 0.2%, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, a gauge of Chinese companies with listings in Hong Kong, was up 0.5%. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite gained 0.6% while the smaller Shenzhen market rallied 0.5%.
Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 1% and the S&P/ASX 200 was last down 1.3% after Australia added an unusually high number of jobs in November. Investors are taking positions in anticipation of the first rise in U.S. interest rates since 2006 when the Fed concludes its meeting on Dec. 16.
The downturn in regional equities this week reflects investors taking money off the table in case of any shocks after rates rise, analysts said. “The general sentiment is that they’re positioning for next week,” said Evan Lucas, market strategist at IG in Melbourne. “The market’s trying to get ahead of a possibly volatile reaction.”
Federal fund futures are pricing in an 87% probability of a rate increase next week, according to CME Group. The S&P 500 was down 0.77% on Wednesday.
After the Reserve Bank of New Zealand cut interest rates by 0.25% to 2.5%, the Kiwi dollar advanced 0.3% to 0.6734 against the U.S. dollar, despite the bank’s downbeat assessment of regional economic growth
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minyanville.com/special-features/daily-recap/articles/stocks-trading-economy-oil-kinder-morgan/12/9/2015/
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