Asian Stock Market: Softer yields favor bulls but US NFP, Omicron challenge run-up

• Asian shares grind higher as softer yields jostle with Omicron headlines.
• South African covid variant tightens grips in China, US but UK hints at a solution.
• China’s Didi prepares for US delisting, Hong Kong joining, US Senate avoids government shutdown.
• Japan shows readiness for more stimulus, Australian data came in mixed.

Asian equities stay mostly firmer amid softer US Treasury yields and hopes of finding a cure to the South African strain of the coronavirus, dubbed as Omicron. However, chatters surrounding China and worsening COVID-19 conditions in the developed countries join the pre-Fed caution to challenges optimists.

Amid these plays, MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan drops 0.63% whereas Japan’s Nikkei 225 rises 0.40% on firmer Jibun Bank Services PMI for November and Tokyo’s statement to not hesitate from suing more fiscal measures if needed.

On the other hand, the European Union (EU) and the US criticized China after Thursday’s talks in Washington while Beijing calls for the US to cut the tariffs on their goods. Elsewhere, Omicron cases rise in the US and China while Beijing-based IT firm Didi is up for leaving the US stock exchange and joining Hong Kong’s Hang Seng. Against this backdrop, Shares in Hong Kong dropped a bit but those from China remain mildly bid at the last.

Markets in Australia and New Zealand joined those from China but not Indonesia amid virus woes. It should be noted that South Korea’s KOSPI and India’s BSE Sensex print mild gains at the latest.

On a broader front, the US 10-year Treasury yields fade bounce off 10-week low, marked the previous day, but the S&P 500 Futures also print 0.16% intraday downside by the press time.

That said, Fed policymakers, including Federal Reserve (Fed) Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly and Richmond President Thomas Barkin, were the most hawkish and fuelled US Treasury yields the previous day. Also helping the bond sellers were softer-than-expected prints of the US Initial and Continuing Jobless Claims for the week, as well as downbeat Challenger Job Cuts for November.

Moving on, the US Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) and ISM Services PMI for November will be crucial for the near-term market direction.

Read: US Nonfarm Payrolls November Preview: Can we agree the labor market is healing?