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SYDNEY, Sept 1 (Reuters) – Asian stocks fell and the dollar soared on Thursday as investors welcomed September by selling anything not tacked on after a month battered by concerns over rate hikes aggressive pressures from global decision makers.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) fell 1.3% in early trading in Asia, following a tumble in US stock futures. S&P 500 futures fell 0.6%, while Nasdaq futures fell 1.1%.
The Japanese Nikkei (.N225) slipped 1.6% and the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index (.HSI) fell 1.4% while Chinese stocks (.CSI300) fell 0.3% .
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Tech stocks took a hit, dragged lower by a 6.6% tumble after chip designer Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O) shut down after U.S. officials told the company to stop exporting to China two leading computer chips for artificial intelligence work. Read more
On Thursday, the regional purchasing managers’ indices of South Korea, Japan and China all pointed to a slowdown in global economic activity, high inflation, rising interest rates and war in Ukraine having wreaked havoc. Read more
“August was a terrible month for balanced fund investors with no diversification gains from holding a portfolio of stocks and bonds,” said Rodrigo Catril, senior FX strategist at National Australia. Bank, in a note to clients.
“The end of the month holds no surprises, but rather an extension of the main themes seen in August with further increases in core global bond yields and weaker equities.”
This month, the US Federal Reserve and European Central Bank are expected to aggressively raise borrowing costs.
Overnight, Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said the US central bank should raise interest rates to just above 4% early next year and hold them there. level to bring inflation back to the Fed’s target, and that the risks of recession over the next year or two had increased. Read more
The ECB’s decision on interest rates must be “orderly and predictable”, French ECB policy chief Francois Villeroy de Galhau said on Wednesday as data showed eurozone inflation had reached a new record high last month, strengthening the case for a 75 basis point rate hike. next week. Read more
US stocks ended the month with the worst August performance in seven years. For the month, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) fell 4.06%, the S&P 500 (.SPX) 4.24% and the Nasdaq (.IXIC) 4.64%.
In currency markets, the dollar advanced 0.4% against the Japanese yen to hit a 24-year high of 139.5 while gaining 0.5% against the Australian dollar.
Hawkish expectations from the Fed saw Treasury yields hit new highs. The two-year benchmark bond yield jumped 6 basis points to its highest since late 2007 at 3.51%, while the 10-year bond yield rose 8 basis points to 3. 21%.
U.S. crude fell 0.65% to $88.97 a barrel, while Brent crude fell 0.7% to $95 a barrel. Russia cut off gas supplies through Europe’s main supply route on Wednesday.
Gold was slightly lower. Spot gold was trading at $1705.814 an ounce.
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Reporting by Stella Qiu; Bradley Perret
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