Asia equities mixed
US equities closed lower on Friday as heightened Ukraine tensions weighed on sentiment, complicated by a long weekend with the US closed for President’s Day today. The S&P 500 fell by 0.72%, the Nasdaq by 1.23%, and the Dow Jones by 0.68%. US yields fell across the curve hinting that US investors preferred safety over risk into the long weekend.
Although it is a US holiday today, the futures markets are open in Asia, and US indexes have jumped into positive territory after the US and Russia agreed in principle to a French-brokered summit over the Ukraine. S&P futures are 0.58% higher with Nasdaq and Dow futures rising 0.62% and 0.56% respectively.
Asia has not shared the same positivity though, concentrating on a fragile New York close on Friday and China nerves, with Bloomberg running another excellent story on a wall of China property bond payment and restructuring deadlines this week, and China leaving its one and five-year Loan Prime Rates unchanged today. Property sector nerves will weigh on China stocks this week.
It is a mixed day in Asia with the Nikkei 225 down 0.65%, and the Kospi 0.15% lower. China’s Shanghai Composite is 1.0% lower with the CSI 300 retreating 0.75% and Hong Kong falling by 0.85%. Singapore has edged 0.15% higher while Taipei is unchanged. Australia has seen no peace dividend from the full reopening of its borders today. The All Ordinaries has climbed 0.05% on M&A headlines, but the ASX 200 has closed lower by 1.0%.
European markets will likely seize on US/Russia summit hopes to lift equities to a positive start, however, they will remain at the mercy of headline ping pong around the situation.
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Jeffrey Halley
He has previously worked with leading institutions such as Saxo Capital Markets, DynexCorp Currency Portfolio Management, IG, IFX, Fimat Internationale Banque, HSBC and Barclays.
A highly sought-after analyst, Jeffrey has appeared on a wide range of global news channels including Bloomberg, BBC, Reuters, CNBC, MSN, Sky TV and Channel News Asia as well as in leading print publications such as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, among others.
He was born in New Zealand and holds an MBA from the Cass Business School.
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