(Bloomberg) — Asian stocks were mixed Thursday in the wake of another Wall Street all-time high on light volumes in the final days of the year. Treasury yields trimmed an advance.
China’s CSI 300 index climbed on expectations of more steps to bolster economic growth amid an extension of some personal income-tax breaks and calls for policy easing. In Hong Kong, artificial intelligence giant SenseTime Group Inc. jumped on its first day of trading.
MSCI Inc.’s overall Asia-Pacific index edged lower. U.S. equity futures wavered but European contracts climbed. The S&P 500 eked out a gain to hit its 70th record close of the year on Wednesday.
The 10-year Treasury yield pared an advance but stayed above its 50-day moving average. Australia’s 10-year yield increased too, part of a global sovereign-bond retreat. A dollar gauge rose. Crude oil was steady.
As the year draws to a close, investors are contemplating the implications of the fast-spreading omicron coronavirus variant, decreasing stimulus and elevated inflation stoked by supply-chain bottlenecks. Key questions include whether Treasury yields will push higher and how much impetus is left in the equity bull market.
“Despite global surges in Covid cases, the markets are reflecting the new reality that Covid is here to stay albeit more on our terms than its,” Kevin Philip, managing director at Bel Air Investment Advisors, said in an email. Next year, “we are facing less of a Covid-influenced world, and a return toward normalcy,” he added.
Zero Tolerance
Chinese officials renewed their commitment to a zero tolerance approach to Covid-19 as they tackle a protracted outbreak in the western city of Xi’an. Micron Technology Inc. said output of some computer memory will be hit by the lockdown there.
China’s battered property developers and regulatory crackdown are again in focus heading toward 2022.
Developer Kaisa Group Holdings Ltd. faces an initial deadline for coupon payments totaling $154 million on two dollar bonds Thursday. A unit of China Evergrande Group plans to cut its stake in China Calxon Group Co. after failing to repay debt in time.
Meanwhile, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is in talks over a possible sale of its stake in Weibo Corp., a Twitter-like social media service, to a state-owned Chinese conglomerate. Beijing is moving to curb the influence of China’s tech giants in the media sphere. Alibaba’s shares were steady in Hong Kong.
Elsewhere, Bitcoin extended its December retreat and was trading around $47,000.
What to watch this week:
- U.S. initial jobless claims, Thursday
For more market analysis, read our MLIV blog.
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
- S&P 500 futures were steady as of 7:05 a.m. in London. The S&P 500 rose 0.1%
- Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 0.1%. The Nasdaq 100 was little changed
- Japan’s Topix index dropped 0.3%
- Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 0.1%
- South Korea’s Kospi index shed 0.5%
- Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.2%
- China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.6%
- Euro Stoxx 50 futures rose 0.2%
Currencies
- The Japanese yen was at 115.14 per dollar, down 0.2%
- The offshore yuan was at 6.3676 per dollar
- The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index climbed 0.2%
- The euro was at $1.1319
Bonds
- The yield on 10-year Treasuries dipped about one basis point to 1.54%
- Australia’s 10-year yield increased 10 basis points to 1.63%
Commodities
- West Texas Intermediate crude was at $76.60 a barrel, up 0.1%
- Gold was at $1,798.35 an ounce, down 0.4%
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