Asian Stock Market: Pares recent losses amid mixed concerns, virus woes

• Asian-Pacific shares track US stock futures amid quiet session.
• BOJ’s Kuroda shrugs off monetary policy normalization, South Korea revises 2022 GDP forecast, Japan is in the queue.
• Yields rebound as Omicron fears escalate, US stimulus hope stay on the table.
• RBA Minutes defend easy money policies, New Zealand pushes back border easing.

Asia-Pacific investors hint at year-end positioning to post mild gains during early Tuesday, despite challenges to risk appetite. Among them, fears of the South African covid variant and indecision over the US stimulus are the key. On the contrary, a light calendar and optimism by the policymakers in Japan, South Korea and Australia favor the traders to lick their wounds.

That said, MSCI’s index of Asia ex-Japan shares rise 0.60% whereas Japan’s Nikkei 225 prints 2.0% daily gains by the press time of the early morning in Europe.

Optimism in Japanese markets could be linked to the Bank of Japan (BOJ ) Governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s comments rejecting the need for monetary policy normalization, at least for now. On the same line was the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Meeting Minutes. Elsewhere, New Zealand pushed back the border reopening plan from January to the end of February amid Omicron woes. Against this backdrop, Australia’s ASX 200 and New Zealand’s NZX 50 print around 1.0% daily gains at the latest.

Expectations that China will stretch the regulatory crackdown in 2022, as conveyed by Reuters’ piece quoting multiple analysts, stop bulls from Beijing. The same joins downside comments from Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi to probe stock from the dragon nation. "If there is confrontation, then (China) will not fear it, and will fight to the finish," said China’s Wang Yi. "There is no harm in competition but it should be ‘positive’,” the policymaker adds.

Hang Seng tracks Chinese equities with half a percent of daily gains while South Korea’s KOSPI follows the tune as policymakers revise up 2022 growth forecasts. Further, Indonesia’s IDX Composite remains indecisive 6,545 while India’s BSE Sensex rises 1.22% at the latest.

On a broader front, the US 10-year Treasury yields keep the previous day’s bounce off the 16-month-old support line near 1.42% whereas the S&P 500 Futures rise 0.61% by the press time.

Looking forward, US President Joe Biden is up for national address and might convey fears of the Omicron after the nation reported the first virus variant-led death. Ahead of the release, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki mentioned that the speech, “Will not be about locking the country down.”

It’s worth noting that a lack of major data/events allows traders to consolidate recent losses during the quiet session but bears aren’t out of the woods.

Read: Asia sees a modest relief rally