NEW YORK, March 31 ― Asian stocks were set to open higher today, as global financial shares retraced some of their recent losses, driven in part by higher bond yields, and investors awaited a closely watched Chinese factory activity survey.
While Wall Street ended lower as yields weighed on tech shares, financial stocks rose, their gains helped by signs the fallout from the Archegos meltdown would be relatively contained.
The more upbeat tone expected in Asia also reflected heightened recovery prospects. China's manufacturing purchasing managers' index, due for release today, was expected to have ticked higher in March as the world's second-largest economy continues to reopen.
In early Asian trade, Australian S&P/ASX 200 futures rose 0.84 per cent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index futures were up 0.43 per cent. Japan's Nikkei 225 futures were down 0.29 per cent.
In the US rising Treasury yields weighed on high-flying tech-related companies that benefit from low interest rates, while financials, industrials and consumer discretionary stocks rose.
Bond prices have been falling on concerns that inflation might tick up from US stimulus and the economic reopening allowed by vaccinations. But Ryan Felsman, a senior economist at CommSec in Sydney, said the inflation picture still seems benign.
“I'm not convinced by the reflation trade,” he said.
The benchmark US 10-year Treasury yield hit a 14-month high of 1.776 per cent early yesterday, but was at about 1.717 per cent by late afternoon in New York.
Those factors overshadowed news that the soured bets at New York-based Archegos Capital Management left banks that financed its trades nursing at least US$6 billion (RM24.9 billion) in losses.
While the fund's meltdown is drawing scrutiny from watchdogs, it was not directly regulated because it manages former hedge fund manager Bill Hwang's personal wealth as a single-family office.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.31 per cent, the S&P 500 lost 0.32 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.11 per cent.
The dollar climbed to a one-year high against the yen and rose against major currencies on the increasing distribution of US vaccines and President Joe Biden's plans to spend up to US$4 trillion on infrastructure. In early Asian trading, the Japanese yen strengthened 0.01 per cent versus the dollar to 110.33 per dollar.
Brent crude fell 84 cents, or 1.3 per cent, to settle at US$64.14 a barrel while West Texas Intermediate US oil ended the session down US$1.01, or 1.6 per cent, at US$60.55 barrel.
Gold prices slipped nearly 2 per cent yesterday. ― Reuters
