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Investing.com – Asia Pacific stocks were mostly down on Friday morning, hitting pause on a recent rally. Investors are digesting recent central bank policy decisions, and are curtailing expectations about the likely pace of monetary policy tightening to curb inflation.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.65% by 10:19 PM ET (2:19 AM GMT) and South Korea’s KOSPI fell 0.74%
In Australia, the ASX 200 gained 0.57% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slid 1.23%.
China’s Shanghai Composite was down 0.23% and the Shenzhen Component inched down 0.05%, with authorities urging China Evergrande Group (HK:3333) founder Hui Ka Yan to use his own money to alleviate the firm’s debt woes. Elsewhere in the troubled property sector, investors are keeping an eye on Kaisa Group Holdings Ltd. (HK:1638)
U.S. shares fluctuated, even as technology stocks led a rally to record highs. In the latest corporate earnings, Airbnb Inc. (NASDAQ:ABNB) beat earnings, while Uber Technologies Inc .’s (NYSE:UBER) forecast was weak and Peloton Interactive Inc .’s (NASDAQ:PTON) shares fell as a COVID-19 sales boom showed signs of ending.
On the central bank front, the Bank of England (BOE) surprised investors by keeping its interest rate steady at 0.10% as it handed down its policy decision on Thursday.
The U.S. Federal Reserve also indicated that it would be “patient” on interest rate hikes while beginning asset tapering, as it handed down its decision a day before its U.K. counterpart.
The progress of the employment market’s recovery from COVID-19 could shift bets on monetary policy and potentially lead to volatility in the bond market.
Investors are now focused on the latest U.S. jobs report, including non-farm payrolls, which is due later in the day. Ahead of the report, data released on Thursday showed that a smaller-than-expected 269,000 initial jobless claims were filed during the past week.
Some investors sounded a note of caution as bond yields fell after the BOE decision.
“The narrative around wage growth and very strong job creation suggests to me we are nowhere out of the woods in seeing higher bond yields going into 2022,” Jefferies (NYSE:JEF) chief global equity strategist Sean Darby told Bloomberg.
