Investing Guide at Deep Blue Group Publications: Equities sag on disappointing China trade data, Ukraine crisis
Asian stocks
slipped in early trade on Monday and the dollar stepped back from its recent
highs as disappointing Chinese trade
data and uncertainty over the crisis in Ukraine kept risk appetite
in check.
MSCI's
broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS lost 0.2
percent, and Australian shares .AXJO shed 0.5 percent.
U.S. stock
futures fell 0.2 percent from their record closing high on Friday.
The euro
remained near recent highs, with bulls still heartened by the European Central
Bank's reluctance last week to take further policy action.
Investors
greeted the new week in Asia on a cautious note after data released on Saturday
showed China's exports unexpectedly tumbled in February, swinging the trade
balance into deficit and adding to fears of a slowdown in the world's
second-largest economy.
The soft
Chinese data put a damper on risk sentiment, which had been temporarily boosted
by stronger than expected U.S. nonfarm payrolls released on Friday showing
employers had added 175,000 jobs to their payrolls last month, up from 129,000
new positions in January.
"While
non-farm payrolls surprised significantly to the upside on Friday,
disappointing China data, escalating Russia/Ukraine concerns and the missing
Malaysian aircraft have all contributed to a somber mood," IG market
strategist Stan Shamu wrote in a note to clients.
Russian
forces tightened their grip on Crimea by seizing another border post and a
military airfield, fanning tensions ahead of a planned Moscow-backed referendum
on Sunday on whether the Black Sea peninsula should join Russia.
Diplomatic
efforts to cool the crisis in Ukraine calmed markets toward the end of last
week, but rising tensions over Russia's intervention in Crimea have kept
investors on edge.
Meanwhile, a
Malaysia Airlines flight with 239 people on board vanished enroute to Beijing
from Kuala Lumpur in the early hours of Saturday.
The U.S. dollar
index .DXY, a composite of six currency pairs dipped 0.1 percent to 79.682
after touching a high of 79.847 on Friday after the U.S. jobs data.
Against the
safe haven yen the dollar stood at 103.235, pulling away from a six-week high
of 103.77 hit on Friday.
The euro
traded at $1.3880, within striking distance of a 2-1/2 year peak of $1.3915
reached on Friday.
The
Australian dollar, usually used as a liquid proxy for China plays, fell in the
wake of the soft Chinese data. It dropped to $0.9060 from $0.9065 late on
Friday.
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