Asian stock market: Sluggish moves continue ahead of US GDP

 Asian shares dwindle amid mixed clues and a lack of major data/events during the post-Fed performance on Thursday. Also confusing the traders is the US dollar’s pullback from June 2018 low. While portraying the same, the MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rises 0.62% but Japan’s Nikkei 225 drops 0.18% to 22,356 while heading into the European session.

Japan’s Retail Trade figures marked notable recoveries during June, up 13.1% MoM versus 7.1% forecast. Even so, 360+ new coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in Tokyo dent the Japanese markets’ sentiment. On the other hand, Australia’s Building Permits and ANZ numbers have been downbeat but ASX 200 is rising 0.63% to 6,045 by the press time. The reason could be traced from Wall Street’s performance and news suggesting fewer hardships for the US fiscal package.

Elsewhere, China’s stocks refrain from the previous day’s upbeat performance is fears over no trade deal between Beijing and Washington escalate. Further, Hong Kong’s Hang Sang, Indonesia’s IDX Composite and South Korea’s KOSPI mark mild gains while expecting further helps for the respective governments. On the same page, India’s BSE Sensex rise 0.80% to 38,375 given the recent recovery in export figures and vaccine hopes.

American indicators of risk remain downbeat as 10-year Treasury yields drop below 0.58% while the 5-year prints record low. Further, S&P 500 Futures fade upside momentum with 0.20% loss to 3,246. The reason could be traced from the surge in the US death toll, the highest since May to 665K on Wednesday.

Market players will keep eyes on the first readings of the US second quarter (Q2) GDP figures. While the forecasts suggest a whopping -34.1% slump, compared to -5.0% prior drop, any upbeat outcome will help the US dollar to extend pullback and negatively affect the equities.