Asia Markets sold off today

Markets in Asia sold off today in line with declines in the US and Europe. There are few data points to focus on and there is certainly little sign of a Santa rally. “Another low liquidity day, as various idiosyncratic storylines play out,” said Stephen Innes, head of trading APAC at online multi-asset trader OANDA in Singapore. Commodity weakness saw the ASX trade down around 0.50%, dragged lower by the big miners. The Reserve Bank of Australia yesterday left interest rates at a record low. “The low level of interest rates is continuing to support the Australian economy,” said governor Philip Lowe, as Q3 GDP figures came in lower than expected. The Nikkei was unimpressed by a strengthening yen and in early afternoon trading was off by more than 1.70%. And a decline in tech stocks put pressure on the Shanghai Composite and the Hang Seng which were lower by 0.60% and 1.25% respectively. The CME Fedwatch tool has the probability of a rate hike at next week’s Federal Reserve meeting at more than 90%, so attention will be on rates for next year.

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