Asian Stock Market: NZX 50 drops 1.0% amid mixed markets, firmer yields

• Asian stocks trade mixed outside New Zealand as traders await more clues from China, trace Wall Street’s inaction.
• US 10-year Treasury yields poke monthly high amid recession fears, hawkish Fedspeak.
• RBNZ’s Orr, mixed trade numbers for July weigh on NZX 50.

Markets in the Asia-Pacific region trade mixed, except for New Zealand, as traders await more clues to dissent the latest recession woes. Also keeping traders on sidelined are the chatters over China’s upcoming stimulus and softer oil prices.

That said, the MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan drops 0.05% at the latest while Japan’s Nikkei 225 remains indecisive around 28,945 level. It’s worth noting that New Zealand’s benchmark NZX 50 drops near 1.0% as the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) Governor hints at more rate hikes while the trade numbers for July failed to impress buyers.

Further, the WTI crude oil remains pressured around the intraday low of $89.60 as fears of economic slowdown weigh on the energy benchmark. Also exerting downside pressure on the black gold is the firmer US dollar.

Elsewhere, Wall Street closed mixed and weighed on the S&P 500 Futures, down 0.17% intraday at the latest. Further, the US 10-year Treasury yields reverse the previous day’s retreat from the monthly high to 2.91% by the press time, up three basis points (bps) by the press time.

While portraying the broad market performance, Reuters mentioned that Chinese blue chips were flat, while South Korea lost 0.5%. “The threat of higher borrowing costs hung over markets as no less than four U.S. Federal Reserve officials signaled there was more work to do on interest rates, with the only difference being on how fast and high to go,” the news also mentioned.

It’s worth noting that a lack of major data/events also seems to limit the Asia-Pacific share traders’ capacity to move the markets. Further, the investors wait for the People’s Bank of China’s (PBOC) more action and the next week’s Jackson Hole meeting also challenges the investors of late.