Asian Stocks Down as Investors Digesting ECB Decisions By Investing.com

By Zhang Mengying

Investing.com – Asia Pacific stocks were mostly down on Friday morning. Investors are digesting the European Central Bank’s signals on future interest rate hikes ahead of U.S. inflation data.

Japan’s fell 1.41% by 10:49 PM ET (2:49 AM GMT), and South Korea’s was down 1.08%.

In Australia, the fell 0.99%

Hong Kong’s was down 0.89%

Tech giants listed in Hong Kong plunged, with their sub-index opening 2.9% lower after the Chinese authority responded to a Bloomberg report. Alibaba (NYSE:) Group Holding Ltd.’s U.S.-listed shares plunged after the China Securities Regulatory Commission denied an initial Bloomberg report which says it was considering a revival of the fintech company’s listing.

China’s was up 0.10% while the inched up 0.02%

Data released earlier showed that China’s to its slowest pace in 14 months in May. The rose 6.4% year-on-year in May, while a rise of 8.0% was recorded in April. It was the weakest reading since March 2021. The cooling might be caused by weak demand for steel, aluminum, and other industrial commodities due to COVID-19 disruption in production.

Meanwhile, the rose 2.1% year on year.

To tame high inflation, the said on Thursday that it will prepare a quarter-point interest rate hike in July and a bigger hike in the fall if inflation remains high. The inflation in the eurozone now exceeds 8%.

Short-dated U.S. Treasury yields are near 2022 highs with a selloff in the euro-area bond market after the interest rate hikes signals from the ECB.

The ECB also announced that it will cease net asset purchases on July 1, 2022.

Now investors shifted their focus to , due later in the day, for more clues on the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes path.

“We’ve reconnected that inverse link between bond yields and stock prices,” Charles Schwab & Co. chief investment strategist Liz Ann Sonders told Bloomberg.

“There’s a bit more chatter, call it to whisper numbers, for the CPI being a little north of expectations. You add in a more hawkish stance by the ECB, and you have another weaker day.”