Asian stocks fall to 7-month low
Asia's stocks fell to a fresh seven-month troughs on Tuesday led by a third straight session of heavy selling by the Chinese internet giant, while bond and money markets remained in tight range ahead of Federal Reserve policy meeting.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.97 per cent to its lowest level since December, having fallen 2.45 per cent the previous day.
The Hong Kong benchmark fell 2.84 per cent on Tuesday, marking its third day of decline, with the Hang Seng Tec Index falling 6.46 per cent to its lowest level since its inception in July 2020. Three days and a decline of 41 per cent from the February peak.
Big losers included Meituan and Alibaba, whose shares fell 12.7 per cent and 5.5 per cent, respectively. Both were down for the third day in a row and investors expected food delivery branches of companies to be hit by new rules guaranteeing workers above minimum wage.
In onshore markets, Chinese bluechips fell sharply in afternoon trade, falling 2.93 per cent after closing at their lowest level since December on Monday due to regulatory crackdown in the education and property sectors.
"The market appears uncertain whether there will be more policy changes for fintechs, social media platforms, delivery platforms and ride hailing platforms," said Iris Pang, chief economist for Greater China at ING.
"Each has its own issues and faces different regulatory actions, so the market will be 'Which technology subsector?' looking for"
Elsewhere in Asia, investors were more optimistic, with Japan's Nikkei up 0.49 per cent and Australian shares up 0.46 per cent.
Other markets opened with S&P 500 futures down 0.21 per cent, EUR STOXX 50 futures 0.09 per cent and FTSE futures down 0.19 per cent. US corporate earnings and the Fed's monetary policy meeting were also on investors' minds.
"It's profit and the Fed. The next few days are going to be monumental as everyone tries to figure out how strong the corporate fundamentals are at the moment and in what context this is happening in terms of economic outlook and policy settings," said. Kyle Rodda, Market Analyst at IG Markets.
Alphabet Inc, Apple Inc and Microsoft Corp with Amazon.com Inc's set to publish quarterly results late Tuesday, later in the week.
In addition, the Fed will begin its two-day meeting on Tuesday, with investors scrutinizing a statement and press conference from Chair Jerome Powell late on Wednesday.
They would like to see how central banks will balance rapidly rising prices with the increasing complexity of coronavirus infections.
All three major US stock indexes closed at record highs for the second consecutive session on Monday
However, the impending Fed meeting placed a bearish on key moves in other asset classes.
The dollar hovered around its recent peak during Asian hours, the Australian dollar weakened and sterling gained in comparison to a fall in new daily cases in the UK, amid concerns about a worsening Covid-19 situation in Sydney.
US Treasury yields faltered in Asian trading on Tuesday, a choppy Monday but little changed.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury notes stood at 1.2795 per cent against its US close of 1.276 per cent in the past, while the two-year yield touched 0.2134 per cent compared to its US close of 0.196 per cent.
Gold was slightly lower, with the spot trading up at $1,794.5 an ounce, while US crude rose 0.31 per cent to $72.13 a barrel.
Bitcoin fell to nearly $37,000 from Monday's peak of $40,581 after Amazon.com offered a worthy denial of a weekend news report that said it was preparing to accept the cryptocurrency.
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