MW: Nikkei, other Pacific markets end lower as dollar loses ground
The Asia-Pacific markets that weren’t on a holiday break closed lower Monday, suggesting that the optimism of late last week—which moved asset prices worldwide — was dissipating.
Stocks in the region were generally lower and the U.S. dollar was pulling back, due in part to profit-taking and President Donald Trump’s late-Friday executive order on immigration.
Meanwhile, India’s S&P BSE Sensex 1, -0.12% and Indonesia’s Jakarta Composite Index were barely moved from their Friday closes. Markets in China, Hong Kong and South Korea are among those closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.
Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney, said from a markets perspective, the immigration policy isn’t likely to have any material financial or commercial impact now.
Instead, said Hideyuki Ishiguro, senior strategist at Daiwa Securities, “The market’s greater focus is on his budget message. So long as he can deliver on that front, it’ll be fine.”
And while for Japan the “U.S. is a very big factor, but there are some issues from the Japan side also,” said Daiju Aoki, chief Japan economist at UBS Securities.
Some investors are focused on the Bank of Japan’s bond-buying moves, even it has said it wouldn’t pare back its purchases. But with the inflation picture showing improvement, analysts expect the central bank to slow its purchasing pace. On Friday, the Ministry of Finance said the issuance of new Japanese government bonds would be decreased.
“This is a sign investors are taking for tapering,” said Aoki.
Yields are broadly higher on JGBs, with the newest 40-year tenor up 0.010 percentage point to 1% and the benchmark 10-year TMBMKJP-10Y, +5.79% also up 0.01% to 0.080%.
Risk sentiment wasn’t aided by muted retail-sales data from Japan. Department-store sales fell 2% from a year earlier at existing stores in December, though retail sales overall rose 0.6%.
The sales data have “made investors skeptical about consumption recovery, “ Aoki said.
Haven assets, which saw end-of-week weakness, rebounded slightly Monday. Gold was up 0.4% and the U.S. dollar was 0.5% lower at around ÂĄ114.50. That could prove useful for Japanese corporations, who may buy on dips for month-end commercial trade settlements.