©Reuters.
Investing.com — Most Asian stocks remained in a narrow range on Thursday, hoping for further clues on U.S. inflation and interest rates, but Japanese markets continued to decline for a fourth straight session as concerns over the Bank of Japan persisted. .
Regional stocks took a moderate lead from Wall Street as investors continued to digest better-than-expected readings, while heavy tech stocks also took profits.
In Asian trade, US futures were flat, with attention shifting to future data.
Nikkei Stock Average and TOPIX are under pressure as the Bank of Japan meeting approaches
Stock prices were in a flat to low range on Thursday, with the Nikkei stock average widening its losses for the fourth straight session. After both indexes hit record highs last week, profit-taking spread.
The sell-off in Japanese stocks was mainly due to the Bank of Japan moving closer to lifting negative interest rates and yield curve control policies, as well as .
Robust inflation data and rising wages indicate Japan’s inflation rate is likely to remain well above the Bank of Japan’s annual target of 2% in coming months, a trend that could prompt the central bank to raise interest rates. There is a high possibility that it will.
The tightening of monetary policy will end nearly a decade of easing liquidity that Japan’s markets have enjoyed, which also contributed to the strong rally in domestic stocks over the past two years.
Asian stocks slump, India faces huge losses
As the rise in high-tech stocks subsided and attention was focused on future economic indicators from China, Asian markets overall remained flat to low.
The rebound recovery now appears to have run out of steam, with China and the index hovering near four-month highs on Thursday. Investors remain skeptical of China’s economic recovery in 2024, especially after the Chinese government set sweeping growth targets for this year.
The Hong Kong index was flat.
Indian indexes showed a positive trend after the index and index each fell more than 1% on Wednesday amid profit-taking across sectors.
Indian stocks had soared to record highs earlier this month on optimism about the rapidly growing economy. However, concerns about long-term interest rates remaining high led investors to withdraw their funds near record highs.
Australia fell 0.1% due to declines in large financial stocks. However, shares in BHP Group (ASX:), the world’s largest mining company, soared more than 3% as prices rose on fears of production cuts in China.
South Korea was an outlier on the day, rising 0.7%.
