TOKYO, May 19 — Asian stocks dipped and cryptocurrencies extended losses today as uncertainties over inflation prompted investors to reduce exposure to riskier assets for now.
Also weighing on digital coins was a new Chinese ban on financial institutions providing services related to cryptocurrency transactions.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.3 per cent though Hong Kong and South Korea are closed for holiday.
Mainland China’s CSI300 slipped 0.6 per cent while Japan’s Nikkei lost 1.1 per cent.
Wall Street stocks slid late in the session to end lower yesterday, unable to sustain gains made after bumper earnings from Walmart and Home Depot.
The S&P 500 lost 0.85 per cent, with telecom shares leading the decline, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.56 per cent.
“Now that investors are pre-occupied with inflation, they are probably reluctant to make big decisions until they see a clearer picture,” said Hirokazu Kabeya, chief global strategist at Daiwa Securities.
“Inflation worries will keep markets uncertain for now, even though I don’t expect stock prices to collapse given economic re-openings.”
The Federal Reserve has stuck to the narrative that a recent rise in inflation would be transient and that it therefore should keep its easy monetary policy settings.
The minutes from the Fed’s April meeting, to be published late today, are expected to repeat that message.
“Inflation remains the biggest theme, whether it is real and whether the Fed may need to change its policy because of that,” said Kazushige Kaida, head of forex sales at State Street Bank’s Tokyo branch. “At the moment, markets are putting faith, after a fashion, in the Fed’s narrative.”
Yet an unexpected pickup in consumer inflation and signs of a labour shortage in the United States have prompted investors to dump assets that had risen sharply over the past year.
Cryptocurrencies are one such extreme case.
Bitcoin dropped as much as 5.3 per cent to hit its lowest level since early February and last stood at US$40,973, having lost more than a third of its value from a peak of US$64,895 hit just over a month ago.
Ether, the second largest cryptocurrency, changed hands at US$3,199, down more than 25 per cent from its record peak hit last Wednesday.
While cryptocurrencies were bruised by China’s fresh ban on their transactions, they were not alone in facing pressure.
Some commodities that have benefited from reflation trade have also lost steam, with US lumber futures losing almost 25 per cent in the last three sessions.
Oil prices pulled back also after media reports the United States and Iran have made progress on reviving a deal restricting the Opec country’s nuclear weapons development, a development that could lead to increased supply from Iran.
US crude futures dropped 0.9 per cent to US$64.9 per barrel while Brent futures lost 0.9 per cent to US$68.12 per barrel.
That helped to slightly ease inflation worries in the bond market.
Ten-year US inflation priced in the US bond markets, based on the yield gap between inflation-protected bonds and conventional ones, ticked down to 2.55 per cent from an eight-year high of around 2.58 per cent hit earlier this month.
The yield on 10-year US Treasuries, or the nominal yield, stood little changed at 1.664 per cent.
In the currency market, the dollar stayed under pressure as US yields stayed flat.
The euro hit a near-three-month high of US$1.2234 and last traded at US$1.2223 while the British pound also reached a high last seen in late February and changed hands at US$1.4191 .
The dollar stood at 108.92 yen after four straight sessions of decline.
Precious metals were solid, with gold hitting its highest level since late January and last stood at US$1,870 per ounce. — Reuters
