HONG KONG- Asian shares edged higher in choppy trading on Thursday, helped by advances in Chinese real estate shares, though fears about the Omicron variant of the new coronavirus capped gains regionally.
Also weighing on share markets were remarks from Fed Chair Jerome Powell reiterating that he and fellow policymakers will consider a faster wind-down to the Fed’s bond-buying program, a move widely seen as opening the door to earlier interest rates hikes.
This helped support the dollar which, despite the cautious mood gained ground on the yen, typically seen as an even safer haven than the greenback.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan advanced 0.2 percent, boosted by Chinese blue chips up 0.25 percent and Hong Kong up 0.2 percent.
An index of Hong Kong listed mainland developers rose 2 percent after news late Wednesday that Chinese developers plan to sell bonds in China to raise a combined 18 billion yuan ($2.83 billion), evidence Beijing is marginally easing liquidity strains on the cash-strapped sector.
However, Japan’s Nikkei lost 0.6 percent, and all three main Wall Street benchmarks fell more than 1 percent overnight as a global rally petered out as news about the Omicron variant of the coronavirus turned negative.
Omicron is rapidly becoming the dominant variant of the coronavirus in South Africa less than four weeks after it was first detected there, and on Wednesday the United States became the latest country to identify an Omicron case within its borders.
“All that anyone can do at the moment is wait for each headline as it breaks, as there are a series of outstanding questions about the new variant that remain largely unanswered and will remain unanswered for days or weeks,” said Kyle Rodda an analyst at Melbourne brokerage IG markets. — Reuters
