Sensex Today Live | Share Market updates: Tokyo stocks traded slightly higher on Thursday thanks to a cheaper yen despite overnight falls on Wall Street. Australian shares fell in broad selling on Thursday, with heavyweight miners leading losses.
The repricing of expected Fed cuts coupled with weakening economic reports from China has wiped 2% off global stocks this year – including a 10% drop for Chinese stocks alone and more than 6% for emerging markets, according to MSCI indexes. Fresh weakness in the yen against the background of strength in the greenback pushed the Japanese currency into the reach of 150 per dollar.
Treasuries suffered a second day of selling, focused on the short end of the curve. The policy-sensitive two-year yield rose 14 basis points, its biggest one-day increase since June. The 10-year rose four basis points to above 4.1% for the first time in more than a month. Australian and New Zealand yields also traded higher earlier on Thursday.
The fall in bond prices reflected a change in investor expectations for Fed rate hikes in March. Exchange rates show that the chances of such a cut slipped below 60% on Wednesday for the first time since mid-December. That’s down from 80% on Friday.
The decline followed comments from Fed officials this week pushing back against market expectations for imminent cuts and stronger-than-expected sales data on Wednesday. Bumper consumer spending has helped propel the economy forward in recent weeks, the Fed said in its Beige Book survey.
Gold was little changed after falling 1% on Wednesday to just above $2,000 an ounce. Oil prices rose to $73 a barrel early Thursday after the West Texas Intermediate rose 0.2% on Wednesday.
Sensex Today Live: Asia shares trade mixed as rate cut hopes strengthen
Asian equities traded on a mixed note in open deals mixed on Thursday after US stocks and Treasuries fell as strong retail sales data cast fresh doubt on the prospect that the Federal Reserve will cut rates in March.
Australian shares fell while South Korean shares were little changed and Japanese shares rose, helped by a weaker yen. Hong Kong futures were slightly higher and U.S. futures traded in a narrow range early Thursday after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 both slipped 0.6% Wednesday.
Wall Street stocks ended lower on Wednesday after upbeat December US sales data eroded expectations that the Federal Reserve will begin its rate-cutting campaign as early as March.
The benchmark S&P 500 fell to its lowest in more than a week, shedding 0.56% to end at 4,739.21 points.
The Nasdaq fell 0.59% to 14,855.62 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.25% to 37,266.67 points.
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