SYDNEY- Asian shares were trying to avoid a fourth straight session of falls on Wednesday as US stock futures steadied in the wake of a pullback in large-cap tech darlings.
Holidays in Japan, China and South Korea helped cushion markets, leaving MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan up 0.1 percent.
Japan’s Nikkei was shut, but futures recouped early losses to stand at 28,850 compared to the last cash close of 28,812.
India’s Nifty 50 started up 0.7 percent ahead of a speech by the country’s central bank governor, which might include policy changes to support the pandemic-stricken economy.
Nasdaq futures edged up 0.3 percent after a sharp fall overnight, while S&P 500 futures also added 0.3 percent.
The Nasdaq had dropped 1.9 percent on Tuesday as some big tech names ran into profit-taking, including Microsoft Corp, Alphabet Inc, Apple Incand Amazon.com Inc.
Stretched valuations were tested when US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said rate hikes may be needed to stop the economy overheating.
She later waked back the comments, but it reminded investors that rates would have to rise at some point in the future.
“Moderate inflation and a slow moving Fed would continue to be supportive, but inflation and a reactive Fed may prove to be a negative for valuations,” said Tapas Strickland, a director of economics at NAB.
“Either way yields and equities are likely to be in a dance as much better than expected economic data continues to challenge central banks’ rates guidance.” — Reuters
