ASIAN stocks fell the most in 2 weeks on Monday (Apr 25) as concern about rapid US rate rises and slowing growth rattled investors, while the euro found support after Emmanuel Macron won a second term as French president.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slid 1.6 per cent to a 6-week low, and a nudge from authorities extended steep losses for the Chinese yuan.

Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.9 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 3 per cent. S&P 500 futures dropped 0.8 per cent while FTSE futures and European futures were off by more than 1 per cent. Oil fell 2.7 per cent.

The euro was broadly steady at US$1.0802, compared with broad dollar gains elsewhere, and it touched an almost 2-month high against a struggling sterling.

Macron comfortably saw off a far-right challenge, reassuring markets about France’s commitment to an integrated Europe, even if his economic platform now depends on parliamentary elections in June.

“The absence of a change of course will reassure not only the other European Union countries but also the Nato,” said Vincent Mortier, chief investment officer of Amundi, Europe’s largest fund manager.

The news was small relief, though, for broader worry about a global backdrop of high inflation and likely rate rises that have been pounding bond markets for months - exacerbated by war in Ukraine and disruption from coronavirus-related lockdowns in China.

US shares had tumbled at the end of last week after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said a 50-basis-point rate hike was on the table at May’s meeting and St Louis Fed President James Bullard floated the idea of 75 bp hikes.

“Concerns around rates and recession are now the biggest risks for investors” with a particular focus on demand, said Candace Browning, head of global research at Bank of America.

“Spiking food and gasoline prices plus the end of key stimulus programmes has investors concerned about the low-income consumer’s ability to spend.”

The Treasury market steadied, keeping the benchmark 10-year yield at 2.8581 per cent and the 2-year yield off last week’s highs at 2.6399 per cent.

Yuan slides

Harsh restrictions in China have also begun to spread to Beijing, where more than a dozen buildings have been locked down, as concern grows about the economic damage of the shutdown of Shanghai.

China’s blue-chip CSI 300 index fell to its lowest since June 2020 and investors have so far been underwhelmed by policy support for the flagging economy.

The middle of China’s onshore currency trading band was fixed at its lowest level in eight months on Monday, seen as an official nod for the yuan’s recent slide and it was quickly sold to a one-year low of 6.5225 per dollar.

The dollar was also on the march elsewhere though trade was thinned a bit by public holidays in Australia and New Zealand. The Aussie slid 0.8 per cent to a 6-week low of US$0.7185 and the kiwi fell 0.4 per cent to a 2-month low of US$0.6603.

Sterling, buffeted by weak retail sales figures last week, slipped 0.3 per cent to an 18-month low of US$1.2792.

Brent crude futures dropped 2.7 per cent to a 2-week low of US$103.88 a barrel. US crude futures fell 2.6 per cent to US$99.38 a barrel.

Copper and iron ore fell in Asia, though soybean oil jumped after an Indonesian ban on palm oil export.

The week ahead is headlined by US growth data due on Thursday, European inflation figures due on Friday and a monetary policy meeting for the Bank of Japan.

Investors expect US growth to steady around 1.1 per cent, far slower than the Covid-19 rebound-juiced figures of the recent past, but probably robust enough to bear rate rises.

The BOJ meeting will also be closely watched for any adjustments to economic projections or any signs of a policy response to the yen, which has tumbled more than 10 per cent in 2 months.

Bitcoin held on just above resistance at US$40,000. REUTERS