Asian stocks fell for the first time in nine days, snapping the longest winning streak on the regional gauge this year, with telecommunication and technology shares leading declines.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 0.5 percent to 138.55 as of 9:48 a.m. in Hong Kong, with seven of the 10 industry groups on the measure falling. Markets in mainland Chinaand Thailand are closed for a holiday. The gauge climbed last week to a two-month high as U.S. data pointed to a recovery from severe winter weather and China outlined stimulus to ward off a slowdown threatening its economic-growth goal.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 0.5 percent to 138.55 as of 9:48 a.m. in Hong Kong, with seven of the 10 industry groups on the measure falling. Markets in mainland Chinaand Thailand are closed for a holiday. The gauge climbed last week to a two-month high as U.S. data pointed to a recovery from severe winter weather and China outlined stimulus to ward off a slowdown threatening its economic-growth goal.
Japan’s Topix index slid 1.2 percent as the yen held gains from April 4, trading at 103.26 per dollar. TheBank of Japan, which begins a two-day policy meeting today, may double purchases of exchange-traded funds as part of a second round of easing, analysts polled by Bloomberg say.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.8 percent and the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of mainland Chinese stocks listed in the city slipped 0.1 percent. Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.2 percent and Taiwan’s Taiex index dropped 0.5 percent. South Korea’s Kospi index declined 0.1 percent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index retreated 0.3 percent. New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index lost 0.8 percent.
Pacific Investment Management Co.’s Bill Gross said the pace of employment growth in the U.S. means the Fed will continue to wind down bond purchases and then consider raising interest rates.
“We should stand by for an expectation that the first rise in rates in the U.S. will be the first quarter of 2015,” Richard Gibbs, global head of economics at Macquarie Group Ltd., Australia’s largest investment bank, told Bloomberg TV in Sydney. “The data reaffirmed that trajectory.”
The BOJ will boost its annual purchases of exchange-traded funds to 2 trillion yen ($19 billion), according to 36 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.
The bank, which is forecast to leave its monetary-base target unchanged tomorrow at between 60 trillion yen and 70 trillion yen, may raise annual bond purchases by at least 10 trillion yen, with July the most-favored time for a policy move. Signs of inflation may deter policy makers from more ambitious plans, even as the economy slows amid this month’s sales-tax increase.
The Asia-Pacific stock gauge traded at 12.7 times estimated earnings through the end of last week, compared with 15.9 for the S&P 500 and 14.8 for the Stoxx Europe 600 Index, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
