INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
SYDNEY: Asian shares took a sudden lurch lower on Tuesday as a ripple of risk aversion swept markets, though analysts could find no obvious
trigger for the move.
Safe-haven bonds and the yen edged higher in what was very thin trade, leading dealers to look for likely
culprits.
Some thought mounting concerns over the coronavirus outbreak in China might be having an impact given the threat of contagion as
hundreds of millions travel for the Lunar New Year holidays.
"It's an essential enough development that markets will monitor it on the
risk radar, as if things turn critical it could provide a massive blow to the airline industry and a knockout punch to local tourism," said
Stephen Innes, Asia Pacific market strategist at AxiCorp.
While the trigger was uncertain, the price action was clear enough with MSCI's
broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipping 0.9 per cent.
Japan's Nikkei lost 0.8 per cent and Shanghai blue chips shed
E-Mini futures for the S-P 500 eased 0.3 per cent.
The mood has already been cautious after the International Monetary Fund trimmed its
global growth forecasts, mostly due to a surprisingly sharp slowdown in India and other emerging markets.
The IMF now sees growth at 3.3 per
cent this year, down from 3.4 per cent and also cut the 2021 forecast to 3.4 per cent from 3.6 per cent
Yet it still lifted the outlook for China to 6 per cent.
There was some relief US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel
Macron seemed to have struck a truce over a proposed digital tax.
The two agreed to hold off on a potential tariffs war until the end of the
year, a French diplomatic source said.
Trump is due to deliver a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos later on Tuesday, and trade and
tariffs could be on the agenda.
In a tweet late on Monday, Trump said he would be bringing "additional Hundreds of Billions of Dollars back
to the United States of America! We are now NUMBER ONE in the Universe, by FAR!!"
All steady at BOJAlso due later is the outcome of the Bank
of Japan's latest policy meeting.
Richard Grace, head of international economics at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, expects no further
easing in policy in part because the government has launched fresh fiscal package worth around 1 per cent of GDP.
"Also, Japan's 10-year
government bond yield has been steadily lifting since declining to -29bp in late August 2019, and at 0.00 per cent, is at a more than a
twelve-month high," he added
"It suggests a reasonable outlook for Japan's economy."
Japan's yen picked up a bid on the safe-haven move and the dollar dipped to
109.99 from an early 110.17
It also gained on the euro, leaving the single currency flat on the dollar at $1.1092.
Against a basket of currencies, the dollar was steady
at 97.627 after touching a four-week high at 97.729.
Spot gold edged up to $1,566.71 per ounce, and back toward a seven-year peak of
$1,610.90 reached last week.
Oil prices hesitated, after gaining on the risk of supply disruption in Libya.
Brent crude futures eased 10
cents to $65.10 a barrel, while US crude rose 11 cents to $58.65.