Asian Equities Head for One-Month Low

Asian stocks fell, with the regional benchmark index heading for a one-month low, following declines in U.S. equities and as shares resumed trading in Tokyo after a three-day holiday.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index slid 0.5 percent to 151.69 as of 9:03 a.m. in Tokyo. Japan’s Topix index lost as much as 0.8 percent before paring its drop. The regional measure is heading for a second weekly retreat after reaching a seven-year high last month, with Chinese shares slumping on concern recent gains have been excessive. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.5 percent on Wednesday after weaker-than-estimated U.S. data added to concern about slowing growth, while yields on 10-year U.S. Treasuries climbed to a two-month high.

“Bond yields are too low and equity valuations are too stretched,” Jack Ablin, who helps manage $66 billion as chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank in Chicago, said on Bloomberg TV. “That’s the environment that the Fed has helped to create. Policy makers are trying to create this growth environment that maybe existed 15 years ago but now, without the debt supplementing income, isn’t available. We’re trying to grow faster than what’s organically available.”

Bloomberg

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