Connect with us

Global Banking and Finance Review is an online platform offering news, analysis, and opinion on the latest trends, developments, and innovations in the banking and finance industry worldwide. The platform covers a diverse range of topics, including banking, insurance, investment, wealth management, fintech, and regulatory issues. The website publishes news, press releases, opinion and advertorials on various financial organizations, products and services which are commissioned from various Companies, Organizations, PR agencies, Bloggers etc. These commissioned articles are commercial in nature. This is not to be considered as financial advice and should be considered only for information purposes. It does not reflect the views or opinion of our website and is not to be considered an endorsement or a recommendation. We cannot guarantee the accuracy or applicability of any information provided with respect to your individual or personal circumstances. Please seek Professional advice from a qualified professional before making any financial decisions. We link to various third-party websites, affiliate sales networks, and to our advertising partners websites. When you view or click on certain links available on our articles, our partners may compensate us for displaying the content to you or make a purchase or fill a form. This will not incur any additional charges to you. To make things simpler for you to identity or distinguish advertised or sponsored articles or links, you may consider all articles or links hosted on our site as a commercial article placement. We will not be responsible for any loss you may suffer as a result of any omission or inaccuracy on the website. .

Business

Asia shares undone by Wall Street swoon, short seller squeeze

2021 01 28T002149Z 1 LYNXMPEH0R00W RTROPTP 4 GLOBAL MARKETS ASIA OPEN - Global Banking | Finance

By Wayne Cole

SYDNEY/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Asian shares slid on Thursday while the safe-haven dollar rallied as a sudden sell-off on Wall Street and delays with coronavirus vaccines served as an excuse to book profits on recent hefty gains.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan skidded 1.8%, with valuations looking stretched given the index had risen more than 6% just this month.

Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.3%, its sharpest drop since October, and Chinese blue chips lost 2.4% as liquidity tightened before the Lunar New Year holidays.

South Korea eased 1.7% led by losses in Samsung after it reported earnings.

Even the tech darlings were not immune with Facebook down despite reporting earnings well above expectations. Apple Inc also handily beat forecasts, yet its shares lost 3% after the bell.

There was a hint of resilience as U.S. stock futures pared steep early losses, leaving Eminis for the S&P 500 off 0.2% and NASDAQ futures 0.3%. EUROSTOXX 50 futures dipped 0.3% and FTSE futures 0.7%.

There was no obvious trigger for the rout, rather many seemed to have rushed for the exits at the same moment in a market that had been priced for perfection.

Dealers said highly leveraged investors were taking profits where they could to cover losses elsewhere, leading to sharp falls in a lot of overcrowded trades.

Some pointed a finger at retail investors who had forced a massive squeeze on hedge funds with short positions in stocks such as GameStop.

GameStop and several other highly-bid stocks later retreated in extended trade after Reddit briefly restricted access to its popular WallStreetBets site.

“The Reddit army should prepare for stricter rules and regulation shortly, which should kill the idea that what happened with GameStop will happen with others,” said Edward Moya, a senior market analyst at OANDA.

MOOD SWINGS

The dogged optimism that vaccines would heal the global economy in just a few months has been strained by the outbreak of new variants and problems with the distribution of shots in the United states and Europe.

Dealers noted the market had also chosen to focus more on a downbeat economic outlook from the Federal Reserve overnight than on its pledge of continued policy support.

“The Fed’s acknowledgment of a slowdown in the pace of the recovery and dependency on vaccine roll out are not new news, but it does provide equity investors a bit of a reality check, pushing out the timing for recovery,” said Rodrigo Catril, a senior FX strategist at NAB.

The sudden mood change saw Treasury 10-year yields drop 3 basis points overnight to 1.01%, well off the recent peak at 1.187%. [US/]

The safe-haven U.S. dollar gained broadly, with its index up at 90.753 from a January low of 89.206. The dollar firmed to 104.33 yen and away from the week’s trough of 103.54.

The euro fell back to $1.2090 amid reports the European Central Bank felt markets were under pricing the risk of more rate cuts.

Commodity linked currencies were hit by all the economic angst, with the Australian and New Zealand dollars both shedding more than 1% overnight.

The bounce in the dollar kept gold prices soft around $1,836 an ounce. [GOL/]

Global demand concerns restrained oil prices despite a huge drop in U.S. crude stocks. U.S. crude fell 25 cents to $52.60 a barrel, while Brent crude futures dropped 33 cents to $55.48. [O/R]

(Additional reporting by Alwyn Scott; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Ana Nicolaci da Costa)

Global Banking & Finance Review

 

Why waste money on news and opinions when you can access them for free?

Take advantage of our newsletter subscription and stay informed on the go!


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: Global Banking & Finance Review │ Banking │ Finance │ Technology. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact

Recent Post