SYDNEY- Asian shares faltered on Monday as investors wait to see if US earnings can justify sky-high valuations, while bond markets could be tested by what should be very strong readings for US inflation and retail sales this week.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was off 0.6 percent in slow trade. Tokyo’s Nikkei edged down 0.5 percent, while South Korean stocks were near flat.
Chinese blue chips eased 0.9 percent ahead of a rush of economic figures from the country.
Investors were anxious to see how shares in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd fared after China slapped a record 18 billion yuan ($2.75 billion) fine on the e-commerce giant.
Reverberations could be felt beyond China as over a third of the stock is held by US investors, and given the stock makes up more than 8 percent of the MSCI EM index.
Some felt the decision was already in the share price.
“Ever since the Ant IPO was cancelled and with the antitrust laws in the pipeline, the market has expected that Alibaba would pay a price,” said Louis Tse, managing director at Wealthy Securities in Hong Kong.
“I think it’s good for the share price now that the news has been delivered and it is cleared up at last.”
Nasdaq futures slipped 0.percent on Monday, as did S&P 500 futures. EUROSTOXX 50 futures dithered either side of flat, while FTSE futures FFIc1 were down 0.2 percent.
Growth and tech stocks had seen something of a revival last week as US 10-year Treasury yields retreated to 1.66 percent, from a 14-month top of 1.776 percent.
