Asian Stock Market: Bears on the move as Fed played hawkish tune

• Asian equities witness losses as Fed flagged rate hike concerns.
• US stock futures drop over 1.0%, Treasury yields struggles to defend the first daily positive in six.
• Japan’s Nikkei, South Korea’s KOSPI are the biggest losers, Indonesia seems least affected.

Asia-Pacific markets portray a risk-off mood during early Thursday as shares drop and yields stay firmer following the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) hawkish halt.

That said, the MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan drops 2.0% whereas Japan’s Nikkei and South Korea’s KOSPI lead the losses with over 3.0% daily fall heading into the European session.

While geopolitical concerns surrounding Russia add to the Fed-led risk-aversion wave to drown the equities, Omicron woes and North Korea’s missile tests exert additional downside pressure on the stocks from Japan and South Korea.

That said, Australia’s ASX 200 declines around 2.0% amid firmer calls of the RBA’s rate hike during late 2022. New Zealand’s NZX 50 joined the league with 2.20% intraday declines as Q4 2021 inflation data came stronger.

Chinese stocks couldn’t buck the trend as Evergrande struggles to make coupon payments and eyes for debt restructuring, which in turn weigh on the equity markets based in Hong Kong and India.

It’s worth noting that Indonesia’s IDX Composite becomes the least negatively affected stock market from the Asia-Pacific group, down 0.20% intraday at the latest. The reason for Indonesian markets to stay mostly stable as Bank Indonesia (BI) Governor Perry Warjiyo tamed immediate rate hike concerns by signaling action in late 2022.

On a broader front, the US 10-year Treasury yields seesaw around 1.85%, mildly offered after positing the biggest daily gains in three weeks. However, stock futures in the US and Europe print over 1.0% intraday losses by the press time.

Moving on, the US Q4 GDP and Durable Goods Orders for December will be important to watch for the markets but there are fewer hopes of bulls.

Read: US GDP Preview: Inflation component could steal the show, boost dollar, already buoyed by Russia