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Yen steady, Asian stocks weak as wild week winds down

The yen stabilized near a. 12week high versus the dollar on Friday while AsiaPacific. equity markets remained on the back foot a day after their worst. session given that midApril.

Regional stocks took their cues from Wall Street, where the. S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq slipped even more. after Wednesday's frenetic selling.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares. fell 0.55% on Friday, extending the 1.88% tumble from the. previous day.

Taiwan's stock criteria slumped 3.3% as it resumed. from a two-day closure due to a tropical storm.

Japan's Nikkei relieved 0.07% after stopping working to sustain. earlier gains.

Nevertheless, some markets rebounded, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng. up 0.74% and Australia's benchmark adding 0.85%.

U.S. stock futures also pointed higher, with S&P 500 futures. rising 0.36% and Nasdaq futures advancing 0.45%.

U.S. economic information from over night offered some cause for. optimism, with financial development much faster than anticipated in the. second quarter and inflation cooling. That assisted eliminate worries. that the growth was in danger of an abrupt end, while also. supporting wagers for a Federal Reserve rates of interest cut in. September.

Friday's release of the PCE deflator, among the Fed's. chosen rate gauges, will be the next test, and arguably. climax to the week's trade, said Kyle Rodda, a senior market. analyst at Capital.com.

There are concerns about upside risk to the present. agreement price quote for the PCE Index, Rodda said.

While a modest upside surprise would not always derail. the path back to the target of inflation, it might impact the. expected timing of the first (Fed) cut and the number of cuts. that might come by the next six months. That could rattle the. markets at a time when belief is currently a little mindful.

Safe-haven demand for the yen cooled overnight, and an. loosening up of long-held bearish bets lost steam after the. Japanese currency acquired 2.4% today against the dollar,. putting it on track for its best efficiency given that late April.

The dollar last traded 0.28% lower at 153.525 yen, after. dropping as low as 151.945 on Thursday for the very first time since. May 3, and after that bouncing back by the end of the trading day.

The location between 152 and 151.80 has actually shown to be a brick. wall of demand, stated IG analyst Tony Sycamore.

We continue to anticipate this assistance level to hold, with a. squeeze back toward 155.30 ish not out of the question ahead of. Wednesday's Bank of Japan meeting, Sycamore stated. After that,. all bets are off.

The Bank of Japan and the Fed reveal policy decisions on. July 31.

The rate futures market has actually priced in a 67.2% chance that. the BOJ will raise rates next week by 10 basis points (bps), up. from a 40% opportunity earlier in the week, according to LSEG. quotes.

Markets see just a small possibility for a Fed rate cut of at. least 25 bps next week however are fully pricing in a September. decrease, according to CME's FedWatch Tool.

U.S. two-year Treasury yields eased slightly in Asian hours. to 4.4389% but were well off the overnight low of. 4.34%, a level last seen in early February.

The 10-year yield was down slightly at 4.2466%.

Elsewhere in currency markets, the euro rose 0.11%. to $1.0857 and sterling included 0.1% to $1.2863.

Oil rates increased slightly as the stronger-than-expected U.S. financial data raised expectations for increased crude demand. from the world's largest energy customer.

Brent unrefined futures for September rose 7 cents to. $ 82.44 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for. September increased 4 cents to $78.32 per barrel.

(source: Reuters)