SYDNEY- Asian shares outside Japan edged lower on Tuesday as investors pondered what a Trump victory would mean for China, while the yen resumed its slide, prompting fresh warnings from officials after last week’s suspected intervention.
Europe is set to open lower, with EUROSTOXX 50 futures down 0.3 percent . S&P 500 futures gained 0.2 percent and Nasdaq futures firmed 0.3 percent after dovish Fed comments fueled bets of more US rate cuts this year, lifting Wall Street.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.3 percent, extending Monday’s 0.3 percent decline. Japan returned from a public holiday and the Nikkei index rose 0.3 percent .
Overnight, investors continued to digest the fallout from the attempted assassination on Saturday of former US President Donald Trump, who nominated J.D. Vance on Monday as his vice presidential running mate.
Opinion polls show a close race between Trump and President Joe Biden, though Trump leads in several swing states that are likely to decide the election.
The Dow Jones hit a record closing high, thanks to energy and banking shares. Bitcoin jumped, gold climbed towards a record high and the yield curve steepened as investors favored so called Trump-victory trades.
“J.D. Vance sits in the camp of taking China on head-first in a bid for improved trade deals for the US and this will only weigh on sentiment towards China,” said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone.
The Shanghai Composite index fell 0.1 percent , while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lost 1.4 percent , having already dropped 1.5 percent the day before as soft economic data from China heightened the risk that Beijing could miss its 5 percent growth target this year, barring forceful stimulus.
Both Taiwanese and South Korean shares edged up 0.2 percent .
Fed Chair Jerome Powell said on Monday the three US inflation readings over the second quarter do “add somewhat to confidence” that inflation is returning to the Fed’s target in a sustainable fashion.
