Asian Shares Fail to Gain Traction

Asian stocks struggled for traction on Monday after an uninspiring performance on Wall Street at the end of last week, while the dollar consolidated its gains against the yen and euro.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS stood virtually flat, while Tokyo’s Nikkei .N225 lost 1.2 percent in early trade. Australian shares dipped 0.1 percent.

On Friday, the S&P 500 .SPX erased an early Federal Reserve-driven rally and closed slightly lower amid a selloff in biotech shares, and the Nasdaq .IXIC lost 1 percent. The Dow .DJI, however, managed to rise 0.7 percent. [.N]

Fed Chair Janet Yellen last Thursday revived prospects of an interest rate hike before year-end, easing concerns about slowing global growth that helped the dollar and risk assets, which have been buffeted by fears over China’s sputtering economy.

Strong second quarter U.S. GDP data released on Friday further sharpened the case for the Fed to raise rates in 2015. ECONUS

Via Reuters

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza