Asian Stock Market: Bears keep reins despite BOJ’s inaction, RBI’s hopes

• Asian equities remain pressured despite efforts of Asian central banks to keep investors hopeful.
• BOJ held monetary policy intact but reference of FX weighs on sentiment in Japan.
• RBI hints that Indian economy is likely to improve despite the risk to global growth.
• WTO trade deals also fail to impress bulls amid Western central bankers’ hawkish play.

Markets in Asia track Wall Street’s losses, despite mildly positive catalysts at home, as investors remain worried over the future economic outlook amid aggressive central bank actions in the west.

That said, the MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares ex-Japan remains pressured around the monthly low, down 0.50% intraday near 647.00 by the press time of early Friday morning in Asia. Japan’s Nikkei, on the same line, drops around 1.5% even as the Bank of Japan (BOJ) left monetary policy unchanged despite the inflation fears and downbeat yen.

India’s BSE Sensex also tracks the MSCI’s gauge, with around 0.50% intraday losses at the latest even as the Reserve Bank of India cited hopes of economic recovery in its monthly bulletin. “Gross domestic product (GDP) for 2021-22 surpassed its pre-pandemic (2019-20) level by 1.5% and activity is gaining strength in 2022-23 so far as gauged from high-frequency indicators,” RBI’s monthly bulletin said on Thursday. "Domestic economic activity has been gaining traction in spite of formidable headwinds from external developments," adds the Indian central bank.

It’s worth noting that, China’s covid woes and readiness for mass testing join hopes of further stimulus to challenge the bears. Even so, stocks in Hong Kong and Shanghai post mild losses by the press time.

Stocks in Australia and New Zealand drop the most as market players brace for aggressive rate hikes from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) and the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), especially following the latest hawkish moves of the Fed, BOE and SNB.

Elsewhere, Indonesian equities also remain in the red palm oil prices hint the biggest weekly fall in six.

Other than the individual catalysts, the mildly bid S&P 500 Futures, softer yields and news from the World Trade Organization (WTO) also failed to renew optimism in Asia. Reuters came out with the news from the WTO as it said, “Representatives of the 164 countries cheered after the package was passed before Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala addressed them early on Friday.”

Looking forward, a speech from the BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda and Fed Chair Jerome Powell will be crucial to watch for clear directions.