Investors were braced for another turbulent today as Asian stocks bobbed in and out of negative territory when markets opened.
China’s decision to cut its key interest rate yesterday failed to spark a sustained rally on Wall Street, bringing on another “white-knuckle” day as Chinese, Hong Kong and Japanese markets opened lower and then slightly recovered.
China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite Index – the source of much angst during recent volatility – fell by 3.6% in early trading but bounced back to gain 0.8% to 2,988.76 by the midday break. Japan’s main Nikkei 225 stock index climbed 1.3% to 18,032.65 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up and down, losing 0.3% to 21,337.62.
Markets have been gyrating for weeks as fears snowballed over the potential impact of slowing growth in China, the world’s second-largest economy and the driver of much of global growth over the past decade.
Plunging share prices in China, and the apparent inability of regulators there to stabilise the markets, have spooked investors already fretting over when the US Federal Reserve will raise interest rates.
“Asia remains the epicentre of the current market instability,” Evan Lucas of IG said in a market commentary, noting that fears of a reoccurrence of past crises may be overblown due to today’s stronger financial systems and currency reserves across the region.
“Market ’stability’ will then come from this region – however the slide in China and Japan suggest sentiment is ruling price action and hyper-fear trading is still in control,” he said.
Elsewhere, Australian shares fell 0.5% to 5,110.50, but South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.7% to 1,877.89. Shares in rose in Taiwan but fell in New Zealand and most of Southeast Asia.
Overnight, a rally in US stocks evaporated just minutes before the closing bell on Tuesday, sending the Dow Jones industrial average down 204.91 points, or 1.3%, at 15,666.44 and extending Wall Street’s losing streak to six days – the longest such stretch in more than three years.
The People’s Bank of China acted after the Shanghai stock index slumped 7.6% on Tuesday, on top of an 8.5% loss on Monday.
China’s slowdown is crimping demand for oil and other commodities, a ripple effect that already is slowing exports and other business activity across Asia.
