HONG KONG- Asia stocks reversed early gains on Tuesday, with traders sidelined ahead of US inflation data and a European monetary policy meeting this week while oil prices lost more ground on worries over the fragile state of the global recovery.
E-mini futures for the S&P 500 index were up 0.07 percent, while FTSE futures were flat, pointing to a subdued start for European markets.
MSCI’s gauge of Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan fell 0.36 percent in the afternoon session, wiping out morning gains. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 0.42 percent.
China’s benchmark CSI300 Index dropped more than 1.3 percent, weighed down by liquor makers, as investors worried about lofty valuations and Sino-US tensions.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 inched down 0.19 percent, as losses in market heavyweights offset gains in drugmakers after Eisai Co’s Alzheimer drug received US regulatory approval.
Kyle Rodda, market analyst at IG, said there was a lack of catalysts for markets as investors were waiting on the sidelines for meaningful news and data points.
“It’s been quiet. The primary concern of the market is inflation and central banks,” he said. “Overall we are seeing negative sentiments regarding risk assets.”
The European Central Bank holds its policy meeting on Thursday, the same day the US consumer price index figure is due, potentially fuelling talk of tapering by the Federal Reserve. In Asia, China inflation data is due on Wednesday.
“The start of a new week has not seen much by way of price action across all asset classes,” said Ray Attrill, head of FX Strategy at National Australia Bank.
“It’s hard to avoid the sense the global markets are for the most part now simply lurching from one big event risk to the next with not a lot to see in-between,” he said.
