Written by Tom Westbrook
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Asian stocks regained early gains on Thursday after a housing policy briefing in China underwhelmed investors, while the dollar rallied for the first time in two-and-a-half months on the prospect of President Donald Trump taking office. The price remained near the highest price.
Global bonds were firm as UK inflation fell surprisingly sharply and the European Central Bank is expected to cut interest rates for the first time in 13 years.
With the weak outlook for equipment supplier ASML (AS:) putting pressure on chip stocks, the performance of semiconductor manufacturing giant TSMC will be in the spotlight.
fell 0.6%, with a decline in Chinese real estate stocks reversing the broader market's early morning gains. Flat, Hong Kong markets pared gains of 2% to trade 0.6% higher at 0325 GMT.
China's CSI300 real estate index fell 5%, regaining two days of gains.
China's housing minister has promised to improve access to finance for builders to complete thousands of projects, and the People's Bank of China's deputy governor says lower down payments have already improved confidence and sales. said.
But while falling prices have shaken household confidence in the asset class, there have been no new moves to excite markets about a meaningful revival in a sector where a crackdown on developer borrowing has triggered a wave of defaults.
Real estate developer Sunak China has used recent stock price gains as a clue to raise funds, helping to calm the mood. Hong Kong-listed mainland development companies fell 3%.
“Some investors took advantage of today's good news and profited from it, which led to the pullback,” said Kenny Ng, an analyst at China Everbright (OTC:) Securities International.
Australian stocks also fell from their record highs, as mining stocks fell and Singapore iron ore prices fell. U.S. stock futures fell after major indexes closed at or near record highs on Wednesday.
dollar profit
Meanwhile, in the foreign exchange market, the dollar strengthened as Republican Donald Trump's fortunes improved in the US presidential election prediction market.
President Trump's tariffs, taxes, and immigration policies are seen as inflationary, which is negative for bonds and positive for the dollar. The euro was fixed at $1.0862, near its lowest level since early August. The yen traded at 149.40 yen to the dollar.
“It's probably only in the last couple of days that the idea of a Trump win has started to give the dollar some buying power,” said Damian McCollough, head of rates strategy at Westpac.
“There's also the concept of a strong economy and the Federal Reserve's ability to cut interest rates less, and those two things are coming together,” he said. President Trump and the Republican Party are seen as likely to take a more flexible approach to virtual currency regulation. It has rebounded in recent sessions.
Bitcoin rose 15% in a week to $67,615. Gold is trading at $2,677 per ounce, just shy of record levels.
The Australian dollar rebounded from a one-month low in Asia after data showed net employment was higher than expected, boosting expectations for a rate cut.
U.S. retail sales statistics are expected to be released later Thursday. Figures on Wednesday showed Britain's inflation rate has slowed sharply to an annual rate of 1.7%, raising expectations that the Bank of England could cut interest rates twice before Christmas.
Rates markets have priced in a nearly 90% chance of two 25 basis point rate cuts by the end of the year, with the pound falling 0.6% on the news to its lowest since August 20. This led to a decline in gold and global bond yields.[GB/][GVD/EUR][US/]
Benchmark US 10-year bond yields were steady at 4.03% in Asia, while 2-year bond yields held at 3.95%. The pound traded at $1.2993, near overnight lows. [GBP/]
In commodity trading, futures prices stabilized at $74.57 per barrel after four declines. Industry data showed inventories fell unexpectedly last week. [O/R]
