HONG KONG- Asian shares held on to recent gains on Thursday, despite hawkish remarks from a senior official at the US Federal Reserve, that boosted the dollar while weighing on risk appetite, and uncertainty about Chinese policy.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.22 percent, and Japan’s Nikkei climbed 0.32 percent.
Australia gained 0.18 percent, Chinese blue chips fell 0.28 percent and Hong Kong advanced 0.45 percent.
This week the MSCI Asian regional benchmark has walked back most of the ground lost a week earlier, when a series of Chinese regulatory crackdowns in sectors from property to education squeezed Chinese stocks and overshadowed the region as a whole.
Chinese equities have been calmer this week, barring sharp swings in tech giant Tencent after state media criticized the gaming industry.
“In the short term, the further rebound may continue but uncertainties over policy control will drive long-term investors away from Chinese technology names,” said Edison Pun, senior market analyst at Saxo Markets.
Pun also pointed to remarks about the electronic cigarette business in state media Wednesday, which he said may also bring pressure to related stocks.
US stocks closed mostly lower on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 recedig 0.46 percent from a record high. The blue-chip Dow slid 0.92 percent, though the tech heavy Nasdaq eked out small gains with investors there attaching greater weight to positive data from the services sector than to negative jobs figures.
US stock futures – the S&P 500 e-minis – edged up 0.2 percent in Asian trading.
Markets are looking at the “mixed signals from the data, and trying to assess what the Fed will do,” said Kyle Rodda, an analyst at IG markets. Rodda said the latest moves were driven by an overnight speech from Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida which took a more hawkish tone. – Reuters
